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The uncanny valley is a hypothesis that when robots and other facsimiles of humans look and act almost, but not entirely, like actual humans, it causes a response of revulsion among human observers. The "valley" in question is a dip in a proposed graph of the positivity of human reaction as a function of a robot's lifelikeness. It was introduced by Japanese roboticist Masahiro Mori in 1970, and has been linked to Ernst Jentsch's concept of "the uncanny" identified in a 1906 essay, "On the Psychology of the Uncanny." Jentsch's conception is famously elaborated upon by Sigmund Freud in a 1919 essay, simply entitled "The Uncanny" ("Das Unheimliche"). A similar problem exists in realistic 3D computer animation, such as with the film The Polar Express.^[1] Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 344 × 599 pixelsFull resolution (1148 × 2000 pixel, file size: 253 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) (All user names refer to en. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 344 × 599 pixelsFull resolution (1148 × 2000 pixel, file size: 253 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) (All user names refer to en. ... Actroid ReplieeQ1-expo at Expo 2005 in Aichi, with co-creator Hiroshi Ishiguro Actroid is a humanoid robot with strong graphic human-likeness developed by Osaka University and manufactured by Kokoro Company Ltd. ... For other uses, see robot (disambiguation). ... Masahiro Mori (森 政弘; b. ... Year 1970 (MCMLXX) was a common year starting on Thursday (link shows full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... We dont have an article called The Uncanny Start this article Search for The Uncanny in. ... Year 1906 (MCMVI) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Sunday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... Sigmund Freud (IPA: ), born Sigismund Schlomo Freud (May 6, 1856 – September 23, 1939), was an Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist who founded the psychoanalytic school of psychology. ... Year 1919 (MCMXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar). ... The Uncanny (Ger. ... This article is about process of creating 3D computer graphics. ... See also: Computer-generated imagery Computer animation is the art of creating moving images via the use of computers. ... The Polar Express is a 2004 feature film based on the childrens book of the same title by Chris Van Allsburg. ...

Hypothesis

Mori's hypothesis states that as a robot is made more humanlike in its appearance and motion, the emotional response from a human being to the robot will become increasingly positive and empathic, until a point is reached beyond which the response quickly becomes that of strong repulsion. However, as the appearance and motion continue to become less distinguishable from a human being, the emotional response becomes positive once more and approaches human-to-human empathy levels.^[2] Not to be confused with Pity, Sympathy, or Compassion. ...

This area of repulsive response aroused by a robot with appearance and motion between a "barely-human" and "fully human" entity is called the uncanny valley. The name captures the idea that a robot which is "almost human" will seem overly "strange" to a human being and thus will fail to evoke the empathetic response required for productive human-robot interaction.^[2] This article is about modern humans. ... For other uses, see robot (disambiguation). ...

Theoretical basis

Hypothesized emotional response of human subjects is plotted against anthropomorphism of a robot, following Mori's statements. The uncanny valley is the region of negative emotional response towards robots that seem "almost human". Movement amplifies the emotional response.

The phenomenon can be explained by the notion that, if an entity is sufficiently non-humanlike, then the humanlike characteristics will tend to stand out and be noticed easily, generating empathy. On the other hand, if the entity is "almost human", then the non-human characteristics will be the ones that stand out, leading to a feeling of "strangeness" in the human viewer. In other words, a robot stuck inside the uncanny valley is no longer being judged by the standards of a robot doing a good job at pretending to be human, but is instead being judged by the standards of a human doing a terrible job at acting like a normal person. Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ...

Another possibility is that affected individuals and corpses exhibit many visual anomalies similar to the ones seen in humanoid robots and so elicit the same alarm and revulsion. The reaction may become worse with robots since there is no overt reason for it to occur, whereas distaste for the sight of a corpse is a feeling easy to understand. Hondas ASIMO, an example of a humanoid robot A humanoid robot is a robot with its overall appearance based on that of the human body. ...

It is possible that the "uncanny valley" effect evolved as a means of instinctively identifying and ostracizing human individuals carrying illnesses or mental problems that might render interaction (specifically breeding and long-term care) detrimental to the group.

The uncanny valley and transhumanism

According to writer Jamais Cascio, a similar "uncanny valley" effect could show up when humans begin modifying themselves with transhuman enhancements, which aim to improve the abilities of the human body beyond what would normally be possible, be it eyesight, muscle strength, or cognition. So long as these enhancements remain within a perceived norm of human behavior, a negative reaction is unlikely, but once individuals supplant normal human variety, revulsion can be expected. However, according to this theory, once such technologies gain further distance from human norms, "transhuman" individuals would cease to be judged on human levels and instead be regarded as separate entities altogether (this point is what has been dubbed "posthuman"), and it is here that acceptance would rise once again out of the uncanny valley.^[3] Jamais Cascio is a San Francisco Bay Area-based writer and ethical futurist. ... Transhuman is a term that refers to an intermediary form between the human and the posthuman. ... Visual perception is one of the senses, consisting of the ability to detect light and interpret (see) it as the perception known as sight or naked eye vision. ... For other uses of Muscle, see Muscle (disambiguation). ... Look up Cognition in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... For the critique of human as a concept, see posthumanism. ...

Criticism

Some roboticists have heavily criticized the theory, arguing that Mori had no basis for the rightmost part of his chart, as human-like robots have only recently become technically possible. David Hanson, a roboticist who developed a realistic robotic copy of his girlfriend's head, said that the idea of the uncanny valley is "really pseudoscientific, but people treat it like it is science."^[4][5] Sara Kiesler, a human-robot interaction researcher at Carnegie Mellon University, questioned uncanny valley's scientific status, stating, "We have evidence that it's true, and evidence that it's not."^[6] Roboticist Dario Floreano stated that uncanny valley is not based on scientific evidence, but is taken seriously by the film industry due to negative audience reactions to the animated baby in Pixar's 1988 short film Tin Toy.^[7][8] Definition A roboticist conceptualizes, designs, builds, programs, and experiments with robots. ... A typical 18th century phrenology chart. ... Human-robot interaction (HRI) is the study of interactions between people (users) and robots. ... Carnegie Mellon University (also known as CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. ... Dario Floreano is the professor of the Laboratory of Intelligent Systems (LIS) [1] of the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland. ... Cinema admissions in 1995 The film industry consists of the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking: i. ... Pixar Animation Studios is an American computer animation studio based in Emeryville, California, United States, and is notable for its eight Academy Awards. ... Tin Toy is a 1988 Pixar Animation Studios short film using computer animation. ...

In popular culture

• In the 30 Rock episode " Succession", Frank Rossitano explains the uncanny valley concept to Tracy Jordan, using a graph, to try to convince Jordan that Jordan' dream of creating a pornographic video game is impossible.

This article is about the TV series. ... Frank Rossitano is a fictional character played by Judah Friedlander on the American television series 30 Rock. ... Tracy Jordan is a fictional character on the American television series 30 Rock, played by Tracy Morgan. ...

See also

• Android science
• Bunraku
• Frankenstein complex
• Gynoid
• Virtual Woman
• Kryten

YOU SUCK ... Bunraku ), also known as Ningyō jōruri (), is a form of traditional Japanese puppet theater, founded in Osaka in 1684. ... In Isaac Asimovs robot novels, the Frankenstein complex is a colloquial term for the fear of robots. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Virtual Woman is a software program that combines elements of a chatterbot, virtual reality, artificial intelligence, a video game, and a virtual human. ... This article is about the Red Dwarf character. ...

Notes

This article is not about the magazine, Popular Science Popular science is interpretation of science intended for a general audience, rather than for other scientists or students. ... This article is not about the magazine, Popular Science Popular science is interpretation of science intended for a general audience, rather than for other scientists or students. ... Dario Floreano is the professor of the Laboratory of Intelligent Systems (LIS) [1] of the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland. ... Location: Polytechnic of Lausanne, in western Switzerland The École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) is the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, Switzerland. ...

References

• Mori, Masahiro (1970). Bukimi no tani The uncanny valley (K. F. MacDorman & T. Minato, Trans.). Energy, 7(4), 33–35. (Originally in Japanese)
• Mori, Masahiro (2005). On the Uncanny Valley. Proceedings of the Humanoids-2005 workshop: Views of the Uncanny Valley. 5 December 2005, Tsukuba, Japan.
• MacDorman, Karl F. (2005). Androids as an experimental apparatus: Why is there an uncanny valley and can we exploit it? CogSci-2005 Workshop: Toward Social Mechanisms of Android Science, 106-118. (An English translation of Mori's "The Uncanny Valley" made by Karl MacDorman and Takashi Minato appears in Appendix B of the paper.)
• MacDorman, Karl F. & Ishiguro, H. (2006). The uncanny advantage of using androids in cognitive science research. Interaction Studies, 7(3), 297-337.
• MacDorman, K. F. (2006). Subjective ratings of robot video clips for human likeness, familiarity, and eeriness: An exploration of the uncanny valley. ICCS/CogSci-2006 Long Symposium: Toward Social Mechanisms of Android Science. July 26, 2006. Vancouver, Canada.
• Ho, C.-C., MacDorman, K. F., & Pramono, Z. A. D. (2008). Human emotion and the uncanny valley: A GLM, MDS, and ISOMAP analysis of robot video ratings. Proceedings of the Third ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction. March 11-14. Amsterdam.
• Green, R. D., MacDorman, K. F., Ho, C.-C., & Vasudevan, S. K. (2008). Sensitivity to the proportions of faces that vary in human likeness. Computers in Human Behavior.
• H. Ishiguro. (2005). Android science: Toward a new cross-disciplinary framework. CogSci-2005 Workshop: Toward Social Mechanisms of Android Science, 2005, pp. 1–6.
• Carpenter, J., Eliot, M. & Schultheis, D. (2006). The Uncanny Valley: Making human-nonhuman distinctions. Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Cognitive Science, 81-82.Vancouver, B.C., Canada.
• Carpenter, J., Eliot, M. & Schultheis, D. (2006). Machine or friend: understanding users’ preferences for and expectations of a humanoid robot companion. Proceedings of 5th conference on Design and Emotion, CD-ROM. Gothenburg, Sweden.
• IEEE-RAS Humanoids-2005 Workshop: Views on the Uncanny Valley. Was held in Tsukuba, Japan, near Tokyo on December 5, 2005.
• The Uncanny Valley (Dave Bryant)
• Almost too human and lifelike for comfort - research journal for an uncanny valley PhD project
• Relation between motion and appearance is communication between androids and humans
• Android Science video, the Discovery Channel, 24 March 2005, discusses android science, the uncanny valley and features an Actroid.
• Wired article: "Why is this man smiling?", June 2002.
• The Polar Express: A Virtual Train Wreck, Part 1 - Animation Director Ward Jenkins discusses in length about the use of motion capture in the film. In Part 2, he tries to "fix" the uncanny valley problem by using Photoshop to tweak some of the characters in the film.