At order to assist pilgrims visiting the holy site, Saudi Arabia has deployed a group of robots using artificial intelligence technology in the Grand Mosque of Mecca.
The robots, which were unveiled over the weekend, will be used to transmit lectures and calls to prayer from imams and muezzins to pilgrims.
Saudi Arabia: Robots to relay sermons and call to prayer at Mecca's Grand Mosque#SaudiArabia #holykaaba#Robot pic.twitter.com/S1tg1HXFD7
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Visitors can download anything from the robot, such as Quranic passages, by scanning the barcodes with their smartphones.
They can converse verbally with the robots to get more general details about the imams and muezzins, including their weekly itineraries.
The new robots were introduced as part of the “smart campus project, in accordance with Vision 2030 and the Presidential Strategic Plan 2024, which aims to provide maximum services to visitors to the two holy mosques,” according to Abdul Rahman Al-Sudais, general president of the Two Holy Mosques, on Friday.
Saudi Arabia claims that the goal of its 2016-launched Vision 2030 plan is to liberalise the economy, encourage foreign investment, reduce subsidies, and wean the kingdom off its reliance on oil.
Before the Hajj trip earlier this year, Saudi Arabia installed a number of sophisticated robots in the Grand Mosque, including ones that were trained to clean the area around the Kaaba, the mosque’s central shrine.
Read more: Saudi Arabia to renovate centuries old mosques from Holy Prophet’s era
The “Virtual Black Stone Initiative” was introduced by Saudi Arabia in December and allowed Muslims to digitally view and touch the Black Stone, a rock positioned in the eastern corner of the Kaaba, without ever leaving their homes.
After two years of cancellations and restrictions on the rite, which is vital to the economy of the monarchy, brought on by the Covid-19 outbreak, this year’s Hajj trip in Mecca was open to nearly one million people.
Every Muslim who is physically capable must perform the Hajj at least once in their lifetime.