Egyptian Border Guards Introduced Robot Artist Ai-Da

After being detained at customs by Egyptian authorities, a British-built robot that utilizes cameras and a robotic arm to produce abstract art has been released and introduced. Border authorities arrested Ai-Da, named after mathematician Ada Lovelace, last week, fearing that her robotics were concealing clandestine spy gear. Officials detained the robot for ten days, jeopardizing preparations to display her work at Giza's Great Pyramid on Thursday.

Border guards detained Ai-Da because they were suspicious of her modem, then raised concerns about her camera, according to inventor Aidan Meller. Mr. Meller offered to take away the modem but said he couldn't take away the cameras, which are necessary for Ai-Da to be able to paint. The robot uses artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms to transform the images captured by its camera into pieces of art.

Ai-work, Da's which features the first "self-portrait with no self," was completed in 2019 and has been exhibited at the Design Museum and the Victoria & Albert Museum in London.