Page 341 - Concise Encyclopedia of Robotics

ULTRASONIC DIRECTION FINDER U
See DIRECTION FINDING.
UNCANNY VALLEY THEORY
Some people are fond of the idea of building androids, or robots in the
human image.But at least one roboticist, Masahiro Mori, has stated a belief
that the “humanoid”approach to robot building is not necessarily always
the best. If a robot gets too much like a person, Mori thinks, it will seem
uncanny, and people will have trouble dealing with it.

Reactions to robots
According to Mori’s notion, which he calls the uncanny valley theory, the
more a robot resembles a human being, the more comfortable people are
with the machine, to a point. When machines become too human-like,
however, disbelief and unease set in. People get intimidated by, and in
some cases afraid of, such robots.
Mori drew a hypothetical graph to illustrate his theory (see the illustra-
tion). The curve has a dip, or “valley,” in a certain range where people
get uneasy around robots. Mori calls this the uncanny valley. No one
knows exactly how human-like a robot must become to enter this zone.
It can be expected to vary depending on the type of robot, and also on the
personality of the robot user or operator.
Intimidated by intelligence
A similar curve apparently applies to powerful computers. Some people
have problems with personal computers. These people can usually work
with pocket calculators,adding machines, cash registers, television remote
controls, and the like; but when they sit down in front of a computer, they
freeze up. This is called cyberphobia (“fear of computers”).

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