PREVIEW

A British-built humanoid robot has become the first of her kind to design a home for future space habitats.

Ai-Da, a robot artist created by Oxford art expert turned robotics pioneer Aidan Meller, has designed a modular “Space Pod” for both humans and robots to live in.

The concept has been unveiled at the Utzon Center in Denmark, as part of a new exhibition titled I’m not a robot.

Ai-Da uses camera eyes, artificial intelligence algorithms, and a robotic arm to draw and paint in real time. Now she has become the first humanoid to present the design of a home.

“Ai-Da presents a concept for a shared residential area called Ai-Da: Space Pod - a foreshadowing of a future where AI becomes an integrated part of architecture,” Meller says. “With intelligent systems, a building will be able to sense and respond to its occupants, adjusting light, temperature and digital interfaces according to needs and moods. As a humanoid robot, Ai-Da acts as a mirror for this development, demonstrating how technology can also be embodied and interactive,” explains Aidan Meller, creator of Ai-Da and Director of Ai-Da Robot.

Meller first had the inspiration for Ai-Da when his son made a Lego robot. He then teamed with the machine learning department at Oxford and PhD students from Birmingham University and robotics firm Engineered Arts to bring the AI artist to life.

Ai-Da herself frames the work as part of a broader debate about humanity’s future.

“As humanity looks beyond Earth, we must also consider how to care for the world we already share,” the robot says. “Conversations about space are crucial; especially when it comes to building positive relationships between humans and technology. That’s why I’m delighted that my studio–home concept design for Moon or Mars is being shown in the Utzon Centre: a space where new ideas can emerge, be explored, and be debated together.”

The exhibition I’m not a robot, which recently opened at the Utzon Center, explores the growing creative capacity of machines at a time when they are increasingly able to operate independently.

Ai-Da’s work is shown alongside digitally designed fashion, design objects, historical films, robot-fabricated architecture, and artefacts on loan from the Danish Museum of Science & Technology. Visitors can also explore Ai-Da’s creative process through drawings, paintings and a filmed interview.

Line Nørskov Davenport, Director of Exhibitions at Utzon Center, describes Ai-Da as deliberately unsettling.

“Ai-Da is confrontational,” she adds. “The very fact that she exists is confrontational. And that’s why she is interesting and worth exhibiting. She is an AI shaker, a conversation starter.”
While Ai-Da’s designs are intended for future bases on the Moon and Mars, they could also be built as prototypes on Earth. The Space Pod is conceived as a simple, modular unit, designed to connect with others via corridors and to accommodate both humans and humanoid robots.

“With our first crewed Moon landing in 50 years coming in 2027, Ai-Da: Space Pod is a simple unit connected to other Pods via corridors. Ai-Da is a humanoid designing homes. This raises questions about where architecture may go when powerful AI systems gain greater agency,” Meller concludes.

As robots move from tools to collaborators, Ai-Da’s work suggests that the future of architecture - on Earth and beyond – may be shaped by minds that are not entirely human.