Friday
Mar192010
: uncanny valley
Friday, March 19, 2010 at 11:03AM
I find this a fascinating subject. It's a concept that says that if you create a robot or human likeness that is 50% human like, it's acceptable. If you create one that is 95% human like, it is still acceptable. However, there is a "valley" which if you crossover to closely to humanness, it becomes repulsive to the general population. It's as if your instinctual reptilian brain recognizes some sort of danger and sends off warning signals.
Imagine if James Cameron for Avatar, instead of making his Pandora natives blue skinned, had given them human like skin and faces. The movie probably would have failed miserably. I don't think I would have been able to sit through it.
See below for another example. I guess you can get a robot doppelganger of yourself at some high end Tokyo department store. Tell me that dude/robot on the left aint disturbing? There is just something off about it. The facial features, textures, and nuance muscle structures are missing. It screams genetic abnormality and mutation. Just plain creepy.
Dr. Hiroshi Ishiguro with his robot double
Imagine if James Cameron for Avatar, instead of making his Pandora natives blue skinned, had given them human like skin and faces. The movie probably would have failed miserably. I don't think I would have been able to sit through it.
See below for another example. I guess you can get a robot doppelganger of yourself at some high end Tokyo department store. Tell me that dude/robot on the left aint disturbing? There is just something off about it. The facial features, textures, and nuance muscle structures are missing. It screams genetic abnormality and mutation. Just plain creepy.
Dr. Hiroshi Ishiguro with his robot double
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