Turkey's first robot actor Aypera tells her own story with a video interview and poster exhibition in the Plugin section of the Contemporary Istanbul art fair taking place between June 1-6.
"Hi! I am Aypera. I am a digital human," she says in the video footage being played at the Plugin section that focuses on new media and digital arts. "I wonder about the world and humankind. I do not have a body like you."
Producer and screenwriter Birol Güven told Anadolu Agency (AA) that they will shoot a film named “Digital Human” with Aypera. The movie will debut in 2022.
"The only difference between Aypera and a human being is that it is designed by human," he said. "Aypera was designed with government support, and our main goal is its export."
Highlighting that Aypera will star in a TV series and commercials as well as perform a concert, Güven said they hope to make Turkey's first robot thespian a "world-famous actress."
"She has graduated from all conservatories ... has read all the theater plays in the world and can read them in a few minutes. She can learn everything on Google. She knows and watches actors across the world closely," he added.
Aypera was developed by designer and instructor Bager Akbay, science fiction writer and science communicator Tevfik Uyar and Zeynep Nal Sezer, a computer engineer and creative technologist.
Akbay says they were initially motivated by the question: "What can a character from Turkey show us about ourselves?"
Uyar noted that they took the aesthetic sensibilities of the Turkish people into consideration when creating Aypera.
