In the past, when people imagined what robots would be capable of, a few scenarios probably came to mind. Would they rise up in a metallic apocalypse, uniting against their creators like in the cult favourite ‘The Terminator’? Or would they become perfectly obedient servants, quietly handling the drudgery of life so humankind could finally enjoy some leisure?
Even though these ideas sit at opposite extremes, it’s fair to say that neither vision included anything quite like Robert the Robot.
This July, Robert was the talk of the town at the AI for Good Global Summit in Geneva, wandering around, chatting and posing for photos with visitors. What drew people’s attention to Robert? His face was casually swapping to Donald Trump, then Barack Obama, then Mark Zuckerberg.
He isn’t the only robot with a personality we’ve covered on MRKT 3.0, but he might be the strangest.
Let Me Introduce You to Robert the Robot
Robert is the work of RB Labs, a Geneva start-up, and he is not your average fixed-expression humanoid. Where most robots are stuck with one moulded face, Robert’s head is a high-resolution digital screen that renders human faces and emotions in real time. Neutral, warm, surprised, focused.
Interestingly, Robert did not start life as a summit novelty. RB Labs, co-founded by Metodi Dimitrov, Robin Krambroeckers and Lin Dayen-Hsu, originally built him as an AI financial adviser, complete with market insights, blockchain analysis and multilingual guidance. RB Labs describes Robert as “the first AI-powered humanoid robot designed for enterprise integration and business operations.”
But, somewhere between the pitch deck and the exhibition hall, Robert the finance robot picked up a new party trick.
A Face-Swapping Robot That Wears Trump’s Face
RB Labs says the whole reason for the screen is trust. The team notes that they “create expressive robots designed for communication,” adding that “communication happens largely through non-verbal cues, and that is crucial when interacting with a robot.”
But does a face that looks like this seem trustworthy to you?
For most people, I’d wager that it’s not convincing enough to fool you and not warm enough to reassure you. One X user explained:
“The desire to make robots that look like humans instead of robots designed for increased functionality is bizarre to me. Either it is a profound admission by science that the human form is optimal or a severe lack of imagination and ingenuity. Making them ‘human’ is more creepy!”
But perhaps Robert’s unusual face is exactly what RB Labs wants. After all, it is part of the reason he went so viral.
However, it also opens a trapdoor. Would you want a robot wearing Trump’s face comforting you? What happens when robots start wearing your face, and what does bringing one into your home mean for your privacy? RB Labs frames the tech as honest augmentation rather than replacement, a robot that’s unmistakably a robot rather than a deepfake in a trench coat. It’s a fair line. It’s also one the face-swap demo walks straight up to and pokes.
Where Does Robert Fit In Europe’s Robot Menagerie?
Robert joins a growing cast of European robots MRKT 3.0 has been tracking. He is hot on the heels of Edward Warchocki, the Warsaw robot who spent 2026 chasing wild boars and launching his own supermarket drinks, and Enchanted Tools’ anime-inspired Mirokai companions.
There is a real market underneath the theatrics. Ageing populations, a loneliness epidemic and bottomless customer-service demand are all pulling robots towards emotional labour rather than just physical work. Robert’s bet is personality, and time will tell whether this pulls off.
So What Do We Do With A Polite Swiss Robot Who Can Be Anyone?
Robert does not fit the old sci-fi scripts. He is neither Terminator nor obedient servant. He is something more 21st-century and more slippery: a machine whose defining feature is that it has no fixed self at all.
We spent decades worrying about whether robots would rebel or obey. Robert suggests a stranger third option, a robot that is whoever the room needs it to be, borrowing faces we recognise to make itself easier to trust. It is a clever trick. The question Geneva did not answer is whether we actually want to be met by a machine wearing a face that isn’t its own.
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