Charting the Uncanny Valley: Do Looks Matter? Part 4 of 7

Karl F. MacDorman presents on the uncanny valley at the 2007 NMC Summer Conference (June 6-9, 2007, Indianapolis), hosted by the Indiana University School of Informatics. The talk presents evidence that the appearance of a robot, presented either in human guise or as a machine, can influence human behavior and brain processing. A human-looking android activates the mirror system (mirror neurons) to a greater extent; however, it may also cause other activation that is associated with the uncanny valley.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• android
• Masahiro
• Mori
• robot
• robotics
• uncanny
• valley

[CalyxAsgard]

So in other words, the more human something looks, the more we notice any inhuman qualities to it.

[replicant78]

Maybe that explain the success of "talking 3d animals" films like Ice Age or Madagascar, versus the failure of films like Final Fantasy or Polar Express...where characters try to look more human.

[KevinLounsberry]

0:20

[LithiumSax]

It bothers me that this guy keeps calling the female robots "androids", as femme-formed robots are gynoids, not androids. I wish he would because it is otherwise fascinating.

And IMHO the gynoid looks pretty cool without the pasty corpse-like skin.

[OceanbornAngel]

Ah! The video of the Android without her skin scared me.