Robot Kim attempts to reconnect to receive programming updates in independent short film Upgrade.

A blank stare or a blank expression is a facial expression characterized by neutral positioning of the facial features, implying a lack of strong emotion, accompanied with a lack or sparsity of blinking. In fembot fetishism, blank stares are used to convey a robot's lack of emotion and independent thought. Alternatively, when contrasted with an usually more emotive behavior, blank stares might show that the fembot is not operating proper, due to a malfunction, being repaired, reprogrammed or deactivated among other reasons.

Another component of a blank stare can be dull, unreflective eyes, further reinforcing the lack of personhood of a robot.

Examples

In Robotman's story CyberFem Park, protagonist Mike is greeted by Chantelle, a series 542 robot.

As she put her arm back to her side, he started to feel a little awkward again. He felt like he needed to keep the conversation going, but wondered if she had been programmed to automatically do that.

So he waited.

She kept facing forward, looking blankly ahead at the keypad. She didn’t say anything."

— CyberFem Park 01 by Robotman