Now you can buy a Black Mirror-style robot that looks like you, or a loved one

In another instance of Black Mirror perilously predicting reality, you can now buy a robot that looks a whole lot like you, or your loved one, or anyone else for that matter. And for your convenience, you can have your robot delivered right to your door. What a world!

You remember Black Mirror’s “Be Right Back” episode, where Hayley Atwell replaces her dead husband Domhnall Gleeson with his android doppelganger? Well, this is pretty much the exact same thing, except you don’t have to be in mourning to find everyday uses for your personal android, at both home or the office. And perhaps another big difference is the android that Russian startup company Promobot is using for its advertising makes Gleeson look like Clooney...  

Now imagine your own self with those eyes and ticky gestures, showing the emotions of fear, surprise, and… most disturbingly, anger!

That’s all possible thanks to the Robo-C, Promobot’s new line of android that comes complete with artificial intelligence; emotions; speech recognition; active face mechanics with 18 moving parts and more than 600 micro facial features; the ability to communicate in seven different languages; and the “ability to create any appearance,” as the video above tells us in the most creepy way possible.

Such appearances don’t have to be limited to you, of course. You can do the lost loved one thing, but as "Be Right Back" predicts, that’s seriously predisposed to backfiring. So why not get someone famous instead, like your own personal Einstein...

Or the android that first made us wary of the machines taking over, The Terminator…

Yes, these are scary times.

The company is advertising their new android to work “both at home and in the workplace,” while noting it “answers customer questions in places like offices, airports, banks and museums,” and it “even accepts payments.” Because it’s hard to find good help these days?  

At home, your freaky doppelganger “acts as a companion” who can read the morning news to you, or run your smart appliances, though we don't recommend letting it drive your car.
   
Your Robo-C can be delivered to your home or office, complete with its own "Robotic complex," "Charging station," and "protective glass Cube." Be forewarned though, if you have it delivered to your office, you may want to warn your co-workers ahead of time.

Predictably, there’s no price listed on the website for your own personal scare-bot, but you are encouraged to contact Promobot regarding the “the conditions for the purchase and delivery of robots.”  

All of which brings up an interesting question: Would you prefer the world be overtaken by robots that look like robots, or ones that look like… well, you?

(via Popular Mechanics)