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The world's first 'ultra-realistic' artist robot Ai-Da nearly had to cancel her exhibit this week after being detained at the Egyptian border for ten days.

Egypt's border police feared that the robot, which has cameras for eyes and uses robotic arms to paint and draw, was secretly a foreign spy.

She was shipped in a special cargo box and stopped at the border, and was finally released after the British ambassador stepped in and worked "through the night" trying to free the cyborg.

The border guards were particularly concerned about the robot's camera eyes and Internet modems, which she relies on to produce its massive original artworks.

The police were reportedly worried about Ai-Da being used as part of a foreign espionage campaign.

"I can ditch the modems, but I can't really gouge her eyes out," Ai-Da's human handler Aidan Meller told the Guardian.

He added: "She is an artist robot, let's be really clear about this. She is not a spy. People fear robots, I understand that."

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"But the whole situation is ironic because the goal of Ai-Da was to highlight and warn of the abuse of technological development, and she's being held because she is technology."

The multi-million pound robot was first built in 2019 by a crack team of art experts and robo-boffs.

She uses intelligent AI algorithms to draw and create, and is continually upgraded and updated as the technology behind her improves.

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Ai-Da is due to feature alongside a huge sculpture she has built at the 'Forever Is Now' exhibit near the Great Pyramids in Cairo from today until mid-November.

Her sculpture is said to be inspired by the riddle of the sphinx: "What goes on four feet in the morning, two feet at noon, and three feet in the evening?".

• Robots

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