Today, you can order what may be the first platform for robotic expression—what could become the literal face of robotics for makers everywhere. Yesterday, the project was almost scrapped.

Jeffrey Kessler moved to Los Angeles chasing a dream job. He was hoping to get engineering work in the entertainment realm, developing theme park rides or working in special effects. Like most people, Jeffrey Kessler got a bit distracted. That distraction became his destination.

He was haunted by an idea. After watching I’m Here by Spike Jonze—a short love story about two 20-something robots—he began pondering the basic facial gestures behind emotion. “Since as humans we naturally read emotion into things, I realized [an emotive robot] could be created pretty simply,” Kessler tells Co.Design, “but I wasn’t sure what I’d do with it.”

(via Kickstarter)