The Uncanny Valley

From left to right: Robots, Movie1"Final Fantasy", Movie2 "The Polar Express" and Movie3 "The adventures of TinTin". A few examples of the Uncanny Valley.

 Sense of Distaste

When Masahiro Mori, a professor at the Tokyo institute of Technology, warned us about the negatives of machines imitating human qualities, we didn’t pay much attention to him or his warning. And today, we are facing the same issues Mori warned us about 40 years ago

In an essay entitled “Uncanny Valley,” Mori states that it will be extremely difficult, mechanically and technically, to simulate and mimic humans. More importantly, however, Mori warns through the use of a graphical analysis that the more we attempt to mimic humans the greater the likelihood that such an attempt will produce a sense of distaste.

Mori then goes on to suggest that whenever we attempt to imitate human-like qualities, we should leave some obvious distinctions visible in our design to make it effortlessly recognizable to our audiences that the machine, character or thing is not a human. This theory is widely referred to as the “Uncanny Valley” theory. This theory is used today in the field of 3D computer gaming, animation and robotics.

It is important to note that even with today’s technological advances, we are unable to flawlessly mimic reality. We then, as set out by Mori, feel as sense of betrayal and discomfort once we spot these flaws and become aware that the thing is, in fact, not human but a technological imitation of a human. We would, therefore, be better served to avoid such reactions by clearly portray robots as machinery and distinct from humans.