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Famous 'Uncanny Valley' Essay Translated, Published In Full
An anonymous reader writes "IEEE has published an English translation of the 1970 essay in which Japanese roboticist Masahiro Mori introduced the now-famous concept of the Uncanny Valley. The original essay was in Japanese, and IEEE says this is the first publication of a translation authorized and reviewed by Mori. They also have an interview with Mori, who still thinks that robot designers should not attempt to 'cross' the Uncanny Valley."
Citation?
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I'm not sure if you're trolling or not. But, do you understand what the Uncanny Valley is? If you did understand how is it 'BS'?
In his 1940s and 50s short stories, the science of robotics progressed from primitive metal men to humanoid form. But real humans objected that the robots acted unnaturally, and the government stepped in (per usual), and banned the production of human-looking robots.
My AC stalker: " I personally agree with your posts most of the time, but that won't keep me from modding you troll"
The whole concept is very interesting and should be mandatory reading for vr/cgi/games designers. The implications while focused on robotics also hold true for computer generated humans (and creatures) in movies and video games.
I did know what it was myself so here is a link for the lazy:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncanny_valley
Everything I write is lies, read between the lines.
damn I mean I did NOT know...
Everything I write is lies, read between the lines.
The uncanny valley goes the other direction too.
Too much work done on a human female by a plastic surgeon, hair stylist, body piercer, tattoo artist, or makeup artist makes her look really weird, you could even say "uncanny".
I would postulate that a overlap situation either already exists or soon will, where a silicone female can be found who is weirder looking in the artificial direction than a silicon female in the human direction. This has interesting implications for hollywood and pr0n actors where at least some fraction of human beings are better replaced with CGI equivalents.
"Science flies us to the moon. Religion flies us into buildings." - Victor Stenger
"Required" seems a little strong. If I'm going to talk about my day over coffee with the robot, sure. But I neither drink coffee nor talk about my day, lol. If I want the robot to go reboot server #42, I don't care how he feels or I feel about him (so very similar to the humans I work with actually). I don't care if he's super realistic but not quite right in just such a way to make it a little creepy or unsettling. Again, that description applies to most of the other human IT workers as well and doesn't produce revulsion either lol.
It would be interesting to see where earlier hominids would fall along the "uncanny valley" curve. Perhaps by VR simulation or even cloning if we found some viable DNA for that.
I'd like to see how this would play into conceptual, rather than perceptual, differentiation of "human", as, it seems most have no actual specifiable basis for this.
(Note to attentive mods: Yes, I am indeed going for the record for most-subtle troll today. The karma will be worth it, and such an experiment I actually would like to see...)
~ Whence do you come, slayer of men, or where are you going, conqueror of space?
Its was both too fake and real. Polar express was like that too.
Dreamwork artists said that had to make Shrek characters more cartoonist because they were getting too close to the Valley.
and not the translation, i have provided a link:
http://japanisweird.com/weirdjapanese/popular/14723-korean-fail
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
I've heard about the subject before, but I'd never been exposed to the original author's mention of death. I wonder if that is what it is all about? Our natural fear or aversion to death and dead bodies makes the uncanny valley happen. Given the stories of vampires, I'm not surprised the movement of a dead body evokes a steeper uncanny valley moment.
Interesting read, but entirely subjective. How does one measure "affinity"? It seems as though the original author simply plotted a graph that matches his own perceptions. I suppose one could determine the data points through a survey, but I didn't see anything such in the essay (although I did just skim the second half, so maybe I missed it). Regardless, it doesn't seem very scientific to me. Interesting read though.
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That's not an uncanny valley so much as an uncanny cave.
It doesn't mention it in the Wikipedia entry, but this effect is also why some of the newer, more "realistic" CGI movies (eg, Polar Express) seem eerie instead of cute. I'd like to think it also explains why Prince Valiant is so lame, but I'm not sure I could make the hypothesis stretch that far.
I'm not advocating for either candidate, I just remembered this article from the Atlantic and am passing it along because I think the whole idea is pretty funny: "The Uncanny Valley: What Robot Theory Tells Us About Mitt Romney."
Do not cross the uncanny valley, fuck it! (warning: absolutely NSFW unless you're in the pr0n industry).
After many years of pushing the limits in games (Final Fantasy ... Skyrim) and movies (again Final Fantasy, I robot,...) and contemplating the differences between human and android (Do androids dream of electric sheep?), nothing but utter fascination remains. The aversion is gone. The chasm has become blurry to me. I am ready!
I now understand my reaction to Weekend at Bernie's. No, it was not Bernie that disturbed me.
TFA is actually very good and does an excellent job of explaining it.
Free Martian Whores!
Let's eliminate discussion of robots and just concentrate on prosthetics. The author argues that when someone loses an eye, they shouldn't get an artificial eye put in, rather they should look stylish with a patch. This clearly isn't the choice of the vast majority of people missing an eye as they prefer something closer to their natural appearance. Now, you can argue that an artificial eye is distracting and fits within Uncanny Valley by making others uncomfortable.
But that occurs only because the eye isn't fully operational -- it doesn't follow the focus of the other eye. If an artificial eye could provide even a semblance of sight, then the eye muscles could operate it correctly and it would be difficult to distinguish it from a real eye.
This is the situation with false teeth and cataract surgery, where they have definitely ascended the final summit.
It doesn't make any sense to stop short with a stylish choice with any other prosthetic.
TFA has the author's theory that it's a part of the survival / defense mechanism that has us avoid sick or lame humans, who would threaten us with disease, or cause us to have to shoulder the burden of their injury by sharing with them, or by slowing down the tribe in case we needed to run.
A slashdotter made an interesting observation last year regarding the effect. He thought It was the reaction to the detection of a mimic. "Hi, visitor, welcome to our villag-HOLY SH!T, YOU'RE NOT A PERSON, WTF ARE YOU?!?!". But I wonder if that would engender more fear than revulsion.
The difference seems to be that we suddenly don't know what they expect of us. Seeing a baby preps us for providing for their safety and security. Later, perceiving the baby as an artificial construct makes us not understand it any longer. Notice how the uncanny valley effect is somewhat lessened when the image is already a threat, as in a violent video game? It hardly matters if the guy with the sword looks perfect if we're already afraid that he's going to behead us.
Maybe there's some self-loathing because we feel stupid for not recognizing the simulacrum earlier. "I should have known better!" That might explain why motion seems to amplify the effect. The static image says "it's OK", but later motion says, "hey, wait, you're being tricked."
It's certainly an interesting phenomenon.
John
The original essay was in Japanese
If only the Japanese would read it and heed its lessons...
They also have an interview with Mori, who still thinks that robot designers should not attempt to 'cross' the Uncanny Valley."
Why not? Worked just fine to me... people react a lot less awkwardly to me now :)
This is a UDP joke, I don't care if you get it or not...
... the video of the robot Octavia in action to get a feeling of it. Developed by the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) it looks so much like a mixture of Alien (out of the famous movie) and the cute Nao that it is the most scary thing I ever saw moving.
This thing is so far in the Uncanny Valley - you could also just call him "Uncle Vanney".
It's look is strange enough that my brain just can't decide wether it's cute or evil, so decides to panic and makes we want to flee immediatly - and might it be into the open flames...
(Just to be on the safe side: I for one welcome our new firefighting Octavia lords)
I lag
I really don't think you have grasped the concept of the uncanny valley quite right. Octavia looks nothing like a human being. It has a cartoon face and moves like a tank. It's about as scary as a microwave oven with bunny ears pinned on the side.
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
Agreed that it's no humanoid, but thats not always necessary to get trapped in the valley. As Octavia sends out social signals through its somewhat cartoon like face, your emotional brain is triggered. The converse signals received from the unhuman moving then sends you right into the uncannines.
I lag
If you mean the Sunday comics printed version of Prince Valiant, it's not what it used to be because they don't have the original artist and writer anymore.
Kinda like Marvell in the '60s when they brought in a new artist and all of a sudden the characters looked more Asian.
I see even classic Slashdot is now pretty much unusable on dial up anymore.