Uncanny Valley

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Beings that possess human appearance or attributes can influence human experience and behaviour as people can either create a personal connection through human-like emotions and personality, or feel uneasy and revolted at the human-like qualities. Masahiro Mori coins this idea as “The Uncanny Valley”, a theory which states that our response to human-like object has a limit until we start to feel a sense of disgust and revulsion. Mori states that “For point of illustration, when an industrial robot is switched off, it is just a greasy machine. But once the robot is programmed to move its gripper like a human hand, we start to feel a certain level of affinity for it.” (Mori, 98-100), yet that level of affinity has a peak until one starts to feel …show more content…
The robot bears extremely resemblance to that of a human being, from the body shape to skin texture, each detail is thoroughly designed to copy the appearance of Ishiguro. However, its motion and speech pattern is stiff and robotic, the sentences were pre-programmed and said with no particular tone with the addition of non-flexible body and facial movements, it displayed no emotion and personality of Ishiguro whatsoever. However, the ability to converse and move on its own without someone’s control creates that sense of uncanniness, in which audiences become wary of what the humanoid might do next without instruction. The lack of bodily and facial motion, eye contact, and overall-- the companionship of a real human-- creates a mood of uneasiness and awkwardness, as seen from a YouTube video where people come face to face with Geminoid HI-2, participants become hesitant and almost afraid to interact with the supposedly “human-like” robot. Wang Shengsheng, a professor who studies in the department of Psychology, states that: “The distinctions between robots and humans lie not only in their physical appearance but also in human observers’ perception of them” (Shengsheng, 393-407), hence the feeling of uncanniness does not solely rely on the appearance and action of the humanoid, but also on the way humans perceive them. When one comes in contact with a robot, the subconscious thought of “this thing is not human” may triumphs over logical thoughts. Humans are used to interacting with other humans, and to some extent, robots, yet when they encounter something that is not quite human nor machine, they are thrown into a state of confusion as to how to interact with the object, therefore feeling uneasy and even revolted at the
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