I’ve been blogging about robots for a few years now and I’ve seen some dumb ideas. But this fashion model robot has got to be near the very top.

For starters, most fashion models aren’t exactly paid for their services. I know you have your big famous ones who make a fortune. And I know you’ll be one of those because all you have to do is dream big and work hard, but, usually, models are just deluded. Usually, they pay an agency to go nowhere.

So this isn’t even like replacing a worker with a robot. It’s like replacing a paying customer with a robot. And robots have no money. They’re broke!

I don’t have any charts or graphs handy but I’m willing to bet that most of our cultural nonsense is funded by people paying to have their dreams eaten. Fashion is no exception. You can’t just take the models out of the equation. You’d be putting some cynic at an agency out of a job. It’s awful.

And, if they were going to make a fashion model robot, why would they make a short, fat one with man hands? One that can’t even wear clothes. A model doesn’t exactly have to do much. But being short, fat and having man-hands is not part of the very little they have to do. Wearing clothes typically is.

But look how quickly and closely HRP-4C is following the normal trajectory of a model. After her single, unpaid runway show her main purpose will be “to attract attention at shopping malls or amusement parks, along with serving other roles in the entertainment industry.”

Other roles? Sure. I’ll believe that when I see it.

The long term goal is to make her into a chore-bot. As for now, she’s incapable. So fashion model it is. Until she learns to actually do something.

LINKAGE: Robot Fashion Model