The Uncanny Valley

In 1978 Japanese roboticist Masahiro Mori was studying the human response to robots and discovered that as robots became more humanlike, people's attitudes toward them became more positive, until the robots got "almost" human, an area he called the "Uncanny Valley."  Since they were so close to human, the little bit they were lacking really creeped people out . This effect translated beyond robots to creatures of all kinds and is a good explanation for why we find zombies so scary (that and the fact that they eat brains), why CGI and today's video game characters look so odd. The most interesting application of this theory is for artificial limbs, which suggests that until we can make them indistinguishably perfect, we should stick to more obviously artificial ones. On the upside, designers could go crazy and offer limbs with all sorts of extra functionality, maybe throw a flash drive in one finger and a digital camera in another.

[Via Metafilter]

[Louie @ Dec 19th 2005 2:39AM]

The Uncanny Valley effect is a great explanation for why the rubberized, painted prosthetic hands look so creepy to me, yet metallic prosthetic legs look cool.
If any prosthetic designers are reading: PLEASE make the limbs look robotic, not human! The humanized rubber flesh is creepy and dull. The metallic, anodized limbs are nifty looking! Kids (and much of American society) is very accustomed to sci-fi asthetics. Go for the ARTIFICIAL in artificial limbs, at leat until you can make them truly pass for real.

[Carney @ Dec 19th 2005 2:39AM]

The "Uncanny Valley" links bring you to its writer and illustrator, Dave Bryant and I wanted to find out more about him; a man who posits through his article how Dr. Mori's "Uncanny Valley" supports something he is obviously passionate about. Herewith: "There are many other ways of reaching this peak of not-quite-human appeal, but as the above examples show, one of the most popular is to combine animal traits � usually fellow mammals � with human characteristics. A more or less human body with therianthropic, or animal-like, head, tail, and perhaps fur is an idea that dates back possibly as far as cave paintings and certainly to the pantheon of ancient Egypt, and can be found in many cultures, including medieval Europe. Today�s community of anthropomorphic artists and fans are heir to a rich legacy." Is he talking about "Furries?" Check out his work: http://www.arclight.net/~pdb/glimpses