Week 1 Proximity between Humans and Robots

Wei Wei Chi
Sep 4, 2018 · 3 min read

The Deep Valley of Uncanniness

Mashiro Mori’s the Uncanny Valley shows the issue of designing things to be especially human-like but not quite yet. The valley occurs between two peaks where the object becomes extremely human-like but are missing important features of “human-ness”. Mori used Prosthetic Hand and Myoelectric Hand as an example to show the effect of the uncanny valley. Though these hands look somewhat realistic, these hands lack details such as human’s warmth touch. The Uncanny Valley address the issue of designing human-like robots and their negative effect on human affinity towards these robots. The graph of the Uncanny Valley shows that affinity is maximized around the middle and at the end. This shows that human-likeness need not be achieved to increase affinity. This shows that Robot, AI, and Cyborg need not be human-like to increase our affection towards them. Mori urged robotics designer to capitalize on the first peak as it is less likely to reach the uncanny valley. The Uncanny Valley show that such close proximity of robots to human could create the uncanny effect and decrease our affinity towards the robot.

The Uncanny Valley — Mashiro Mori

The R.U.R and Origin of Humanoid Robots

The R.U.R. writer Čapek coined the term “robota” which mean artificially created person. The shows revolve around artificial human and their human counterpart. The story shows that the robots and people were very similar as they were biologically created but they do lack what is referred to as “soul”. This is similar to the nuances that are missing in human-like robots that create uncanniness. In Act 1, the conversation between Helena and Dr. Gall shows that the destruction of humankind started by creating more human-like robots and the consequences of creating such progress was not heeded as the warning for Dr. Gall.

Helena: If only you knew how he hates us! Are all of your robots like this? All the ones you started to make . . . differently?

Dr. Gall: Well, they do seem somewhat more excitable, but what can you expect? They’re more like people than Rossum’s robots were.

Helena: And what about that . . . that hatred? Is that more like people?

Dr. Gall: (shrugs shoulders) Even that is progress.”

From R.U.R Act 1

Similar to Mori’s warning, R.U.R exposed the larger threat of creating a human-like robotics beyond just appearance and interaction. R.U.R shows that decision making artificial intelligence could destroy humanity because of the flaw of human that are being programmed into these robots. Thus, the topic such as AI, safety, and ethics have become increasingly important to discuss.


Designing the Robot of the Future

In the 21st century, there are robots that follow Mori’s suggestion and other examples that do not. Such examples include Vector and Jibo, which are “smart” companion robots that do not have human resemblance. They do not have much “productive” functionality except answering easy questions that can be accessed on the internet. These robots are programmed to have affective behavior such as cute voice, dance, and emotive eyes. I believe these designs of robot distance itself from the humanoid robots by capitalizing on the first peak of the Uncanny Valley and they need not be humanoid.

Jibo — https://www.jibo.com/

On the other hand, the robot such as Sophia dove straight into the Uncanny Valley because it tries to mimic the human facial expression and body language, however, it is still missing some nuances of human expression and body language. Even though Sophia is just a research project to increase human-like expression for human-robot interaction, the question stills remain whether such nuances of mimicry can be achieved? and if so, what are the implication of creating a humanoid robot? Furthermore, what future design decision must be made so that these negative effects do not harm human in any way?

Sophia by Hanson Robotics — http://www.hansonrobotics.com/robot/sophia/
Wei Wei Chi

Written by

Wei Wei is currently a graduate student at Carnegie Mellon University where he is pursuing a Master of Science in Computational Design.

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