--- title: "A Fleshy New Humanoid Sketches You, Mimics Your Facial Expressions" description: "A team of UK scientists are building a robot called Ai-Da that can sketch and draw the way she sees the world around her." date: "2019-02-12" modified: "2019-02-12" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/robot-draw-paint-engineered-arts-ai-da" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" tags: - "ai" - "ai art" - "robot" - "the digest" --- # A Fleshy New Humanoid Sketches You, Mimics Your Facial Expressions ![A team of UK scientists are building a robot called Ai-Da that can sketch and draw the way she sees the world around her.]() *\Image: Engineered Arts\* ## Robot Artists Today's robots can [run](), [talk](), and even [learn](). But can they become artists? UK engineers from robotics company Engineered Arts are building a robot called "Ai-Da," which will eventually be able to draw and even paint, [*Reuters* reports](). Thanks to a pencil attached to her robotic arm, Ai-Da is capable of sketching what she can see with her robotic eyes, which relay information to her arm. And did we mention that her face is like an almost-there human mask capable of facial expressions? "There’s AI (artificial intelligence) running in the computer vision that allows the robot to track faces to recognize facial features and to mimic your expression," Marcus Hold, Design and Production Engineer at Engineered Arts, told *Reuters*. ![]() *Image Credit: Ai-Da* ## Drawing the World Can Ai-Da's creations really be called art? There's a growing movement behind works of [art created by robots](). For instance, the [RobotArt gallery]() curates annual pieces of art created by robots, machine learning, and image processing algorithms. And the art actually has value: an AI artwork sold for almost [half a million dollars]() at Christie's Auction House in December. But Ai-Da is different: so far robots and machine learning systems have learned from existing human art. Ai-Da is inspired by the physical world around her. ## Artist in the Making As of right now, Ai-Da is a mostly a robotic skeleton with human features like eyes, skin and a mouth. She's able to follow movement with her eyes, react to movement and even blink in shock. She will make her big public debut at University of Oxford's "Unsecured Futures" exhibition in May. Ai-Da's art will even be shown off at a London art gallery in November. **READ MORE:** [The new Picasso? Meet Ai-Da the robot artist]() \[*Reuters*\] ***More on robot art:* [Qbits for Cubists: Robots Made These Incredible Works of Fine Art]()** ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()