A key feature of the humanoid social robot is its face. A robot face is not simply a technical choice, as faces communicate identity, affect and interpersonal spatial relations, and can be key to perceptions about the virtuousness of the robot. To address the significance of the robot face we develop a transdisciplinary reading of faces that compares how science, art and philosophy offer critical knowledges to inform the design of social robotics. Science understands face perception as a physiological, neurological and psychological process that perceives identity, emotion and spatial relations. Art provides a diverse repertoire of stylised faces in visual culture that reiterates the role of likeness, affect and social space. Art presents faces as ethically loaded, such as the war face, the blessed face and the abstracted face. Philosophy proposes the influence of a machine of faciality that abstracts the face as black holes on a white wall, invoking subjectivity and significance. In the second half of the paper we use qualitative visual analysis to develop a classification of robot faces: realistic; symbolic; blank; tech; and screen. We argue that design choice has philosophical, aesthetic and ethical consequences, as people are highly sensitive to the appearance, behaviour and social space of people, robots and their faces.

人型化社交机器人的一个关键特征是其面孔。机器人的面孔不仅仅是技术选择，因为面孔传达了身份，情感和人与人之间的空间关系，并且对于感知机器人的德性至关重要。为了解决机器人面孔的重要性，我们开发了一种跨学科的面孔读取方法，用于比较科学，艺术和哲学如何提供关键知识来为社交机器人的设计提供信息。科学将面部感知理解为感知身份，情感和空间关系的生理，神经和心理过程。艺术在视觉文化中提供了多样化的风格化面孔，从而重申了相似性，情感和社交空间的作用。艺术呈现的是具有伦理意义的面孔，例如战争面孔，祝福面孔和抽象面孔。哲学提出了一种面部机制的影响，该机制将面部抽象为白墙上的黑洞，从而唤起了主观性和意义。在本文的后半部分，我们使用定性视觉分析对机器人面部进行分类：逼真；象征性的 空白; 科技 和屏幕。我们认为设计选择具有哲学，美学和伦理后果，因为人们对人，机器人及其面孔的外观，行为和社会空间高度敏感。