The race against robots is on: the Federal Trade Commission is offering $50,000 cash to anyone that can come up with a way to eliminate the insidious telemarketing robocall, it announced Thursday. While it may take a sizable workload, a good kill-switch for the spammy pre-recorded messages could put an end to the annoying overtures on the phone to enter a new sweepstakes, qualify for a new credit card, or get a new energy provider.

The FTC outlawed commercial telemarketing calls years ago in September 2009, but the legislation has done little to slow the flow of the pre-recorded messages ringing through to US phones. Because robocall systems are very complex and often internationally-oriented with layers of VoIP and spoofed caller IDs, the long arm of US law struggles to bring every last robocaller to justice. Hence, it's time for some good old-fashioned ingenuity.

Robocall crackdown solutions will be evaluated and scored in three basic areas. The first area, worth half the score, is how well it works: proof of its effectiveness, extensibility to different kinds of phones (mobile, wired landlines, and so on), and how easily it might be circumvented by telemarketers once it's rolled out. The second area, worth a quarter of the score, is how easy the solution would be to implement and use for consumers. The third area, also worth a quarter of the score, evaluates the idea based on how practical it is to deploy, with a high value placed on submissions that can be implemented immediately even if they are small-scale.

Acceptance of the solution doesn't guarantee it will be rolled out—we're reminded of the recommendation algorithm Netflix bought for $1 million and never used. Only teams with 10 employees or fewer will be eligible for the $50,000 prize; teams with more manpower will receive an "achievement award." The contest opens on October 25 at robocall.challenge.gov, and will run through January 17, 2013.