A robot offer to be taken at face value

Are you exceptionally fond of your face? More specifically: are you so fond of your face that you’d like to see it plastered on a global fleet of humanoid robots for years to come?

If you answered “yes” to both questions — which would hardly be surprising in the “selfie” era — a British engineering and manufacturing firm wants to hear from you. That firm, Geomiq, claims its been hired by a mysterious robotics company to put out a call for photo submissions. The reason: said company has developed a humanoid robot that is nearing completion, but is still in need of the right visage.

The line between an epic ego boost and a nightmare from a Black Mirror episode, it seems, has never been thinner.

In a statement posted online, Geomiq says the robotics company — unnamed due to an apparent nondisclosure agreement — isn’t looking for just any old face, but a “kind and friendly” one that may be reproduced “on potentially thousands of versions of the robots worldwide”. The post doesn’t specify whether designers are seeking a particular age or gender for their robotic face.

Geomiq notes that theirs is a “unique request” and points out that licensing one’s face to a humanoid robotic project of unknown origin is “potentially an extremely big decision”.

Geomiq adds that a nearly US$130,000 ($204,145) enticement awaits the bold individual who agrees to let the robotics company license their visage, likely altering the course of their life forever.

It’s unclear whether Geomiq’s request is a daring social experiment, a prank, or a legitimate plea for assistance. The firm’s statement includes a semi-detailed explanation for its client’s secrecy.

“The company is privately-funded and says the robots’ purpose will be to act as a ‘virtual friend’ for elderly people, and is set to go into production next year,” the statement says. “The designer has said that the project has been in development for five years, and has since taken on investment from a number of independent VCs as well as a top fund based in Shanghai.”

The statement adds: “The company says the need for anonymity is due to the ‘secretive’ nature of the project, however it believes the robot will soon be ‘readily available’ to the public and hopes the campaign will create extra buzz ahead of its eventual release”.

The company claims that candidates whose faces advance to the next phase of the selection process can expect full transparency about the nature of the robotics project.

In recent years, a growing number of robots have been developed with faces rendered on a screen.