Rajinikanth left for US yesterday morning to participate in Robot’s first leg of filming, which possibly begins on August 12th. Robot, touted as the costliest-ever Indian film, is directed by Shankar and stars Rajinikanth and Aishwarya Rai in the lead. A crew comprising director Shankar, cameraman Rathinavelu, costume designer Manish Malhotra, and a few technicians arrived in US yesterday to prepare for the shoot. Two days following superstar’s arrival in America, a short photo shoot will be held, following which shooting for Robot begins. Director Shankar had made quite a lot of adjustments in the Robot schedules to facilitate Rajni and Aishwarya’s participation. The director even decided to give a break to Aishwarya after Robot's first or second shooting schedule to enable her to act in Mani Ratnam’s bilingual film.