Uncanny Valley

Words: 1345
Pages: 6
Open Document
Beings that possess human appearance or attributes can influence human experience and behaviour as people can either create a personal connection through human-like emotions and personality, or feel uneasy and revolted at the human-like qualities. Masahiro Mori coins this idea as “The Uncanny Valley”, a theory which states that our response to human-like object has a limit until we start to feel a sense of disgust and revulsion. Mori states that “For point of illustration, when an industrial robot is switched off, it is just a greasy machine. But once the robot is programmed to move its gripper like a human hand, we start to feel a certain level of affinity for it.” (Mori, 98-100), yet that level of affinity has a peak until one starts to feel …show more content…
The robot bears extremely resemblance to that of a human being, from the body shape to skin texture, each detail is thoroughly designed to copy the appearance of Ishiguro. However, its motion and speech pattern is stiff and robotic, the sentences were pre-programmed and said with no particular tone with the addition of non-flexible body and facial movements, it displayed no emotion and personality of Ishiguro whatsoever. However, the ability to converse and move on its own without someone’s control creates that sense of uncanniness, in which audiences become wary of what the humanoid might do next without instruction. The lack of bodily and facial motion, eye contact, and overall-- the companionship of a real human-- creates a mood of uneasiness and awkwardness, as seen from a YouTube video where people come face to face with Geminoid HI-2, participants become hesitant and almost afraid to interact with the supposedly “human-like” robot. Wang Shengsheng, a professor who studies in the department of Psychology, states that: “The distinctions between robots and humans lie not only in their physical appearance but also in human observers’ perception of them” (Shengsheng, 393-407), hence the feeling of uncanniness does not solely rely on the appearance and action of the humanoid, but also on the way humans perceive them. When one comes in contact with a robot, the subconscious thought of “this thing is not human” may triumphs over logical thoughts. Humans are used to interacting with other humans, and to some extent, robots, yet when they encounter something that is not quite human nor machine, they are thrown into a state of confusion as to how to interact with the object, therefore feeling uneasy and even revolted at the
Show More

Related Documents: Uncanny Valley

My Robotic Doppelgänger: A Critical Look At The Uncanny Valley

1970, Tokyo Institute of Technology robotics professor Masahiro Mori proposed the idea of "the uncanny valley," which states that "a person's response to a humanlike robot would abruptly shift from empathy to revulsion as…

Words 519 - Pages 3

3D Technology Advancements and New Animation Possibilities Essay

accessible. So how can new 3D technologies help the new generation of movie makers in creating a masterpiece efficiently? The concept of the uncanny valley in this field and how we’ve passed it: The uncanny valley is a concept that’s been keeping big animators away from this particular field for a decent amount of time. Let’s do a crash-course, what’s the uncanny valley? It was first introduced in the 70s by a Japanese roboticist named Masahiro Mori. Mori loves to build robots a lot. Over time, he started…

Words 1906 - Pages 8

Frankenfoods

The next lecture was by Timothy P Leslie. He talked about “Frankenfoods” or GMO. GMO stands for genetically modified organisms. In this presentation, he hoped to disprove the notion that GMO are harmful for human consumption. Since its introduction, GMOs have been labeled as Frankenfood. This negative word causes us to feel like it’s harmful for us, and it invokes fear. The word was first used in a letter to the editor of the New York Times in 1992. An English professor from Massachusetts commented…

Words 1040 - Pages 5

Examples Of Romanticism In Frankenstein

Romantic writers are concerned with the nature and the sublime, human emotions, individuality, and rebellion against science as they felt discontent about anything that seems commercial and inhumane. Many ideas behind the literary movement of Romanticism can be found throughout Shelley’s novel Frankenstein, especially throughout Chapter 5 and Chapter 6 where Victor first finishes his project up and reads a letter written from Elizabeth. Frankenstein completes his project, and he describes the creature…

Words 427 - Pages 2

Un Chin Andalou Essay

Section 1: Film – Oedipal Trajectories in Un Chien Andalou Surrealism, having stemmed from Dadaism in its pursuit for the rejection of orthodox art, protested the public sensibilities of the eclipsing, rational bourgeois, by catering to mediums of cinematography and film. Though the depiction of surrealism can be accredited in paintings as well, there remains to be great significance in the implementation of film in the demonstration of this avant-garde movement as only film is capable of…

Words 1787 - Pages 8

Essay on An Approach on Machine Inteligence

the most surprising of places. While the approach to machine intelligence has frequently been ‘how human are they?’ I feel that this is the downfall in many people’s argument against machine intelligence. Perhaps best supported by Freud’s ‘uncanny valley’, we see a clear discomfort with near-human machines until they become nearly indistinguishable from humans. This dilemma is well presented in Maureen McHugh’s Nekropolis. We view Hariba, having sold herself into slavery she encounters the biological…

Words 1106 - Pages 5

Nintendo Research Paper

Thinking Laterally Nintendo is a respected international videogame and console manufacturer that holds and helped set a standard of quality in the videogame production industry. Created and founded by Fusajiro Yamauchi in 1889, in the small city Kyoto, Japan, as Nintendo Koppai, Nintendo began building its empire by manufacturing handmade "Hanafuda" Japanese playing cards that were used for various types of games in a similar fashion to a standard fifty-two card deck used in casinos (Jones). For…

Words 1329 - Pages 6

term paper for history

and Europe had not collapsed in the 1930’s, the United States would have had a trading partner to help sustain it. Part of the problem was the challenge of transition to industrialization from agriculture. Part was freakish weather: floods on the uncanny Dust Bowl seemed to validate the sense of apocalypse. With money and the weather breaking down, men and women in America felt extraordinarily helpless. They were willing to suspend disbelief. But the deepest problem was the intervention, the lack…

Words 1682 - Pages 7

Yigael Yadin's Archaeological Contributions

Yigael Yadin’s Archaeological Contributions Introduction Biblical Archeology has helped in supporting the historicity of the Bible. Not that archaeology proves or disapproves the Bible – this it does not, it only supports the history of the Bible. One of the discoveries that support the biblical historicity is the Dead Sea Scrolls. The Dead Sea Scrolls came from eleven caves, mined over the course of seven years, over 15,000 documents supporting biblical historicity have been unearthed…

Words 2430 - Pages 10

Spelling Bee Words Essay

stellar reckon axle talons heroic stomach patriot episode cabinet murmur uniform racial compass prism wriggle journal assign eyelet tissue posture thermos fashion chorus humane ugliness ransom flannel fragrance prevail sinus weasel oasis quarrel lightning foreground veil midriff munchkin kindergarten marshmallow question bristle delighted echoed therapy mortar intruder terrific curtain calculator blizzard virtue antelope blatant confection reality…

Words 4469 - Pages 18