This makeup-doing robot is out to prove a point — and it’s not what you’d think

Of all the things about the Capitol the Hunger Games that gave me the most FOMO, it was by far the fancy devices they had installed in the rooms that would automatically do your hair and beauty routine for you. But it’s 2015, guys. If you can dream it, you can do it. That’s exactly why the invention of this make-up doing robot doesn’t come as too much of surprise — instead, the surprise is the important point that it’s out to prove. The Vienna-based designers behind the gadget are using the “Beautification” beauty bot to make a statement about how unique human beauty is so much better than the kind of beauty that is manufactured.

So no, this new beauty bot isn’t going to free up your hands for Tumblr scrolling in your morning routine, but this is what it will do: make you look vaguely reminiscent of a flesh-eating clown. The machine is set to a one-size-fits all standard of beauty. It does eyeliner in very precise streaks, applies lipstick in one perfect circle, and gives absolutely no regard for unique facial structure, intention, or personality. The inventors, two students from the University of Applied Arts in Vienna, say that they created the machine to show just how absurd it is to confine the world to one “perfect” standard of beauty when we are all so beautifully different.

The Beautification bot serves as a healthy reminder to all of us to celebrate ourselves for our unique qualities, and embrace our creativity. It’s a blast and a half when you feel like you want to jazz up your life with some make-up, but it’s important that you do it so that you feel good about it, not to try and fit into some perfectly squared off box that in reality only models can fit into after some serious airbrush work. “Perfect” is pretty boring when you think about it, and after you watch this video showing how the beauty bot works, you’ll see it can be kind of hilarious, too.

(Image from here.)