Tag: UNCANNY VALLEY

Some of us at Switched have decided that we need to stop referring to humanoid robots as 'creepy,' even if they do plumb the depths of the Uncanny Valley. So the best way for us to describe the HRP-4C -- a Japanese singing robot that attempts to mimic human facial expressions -- is to call it 'unnecessary.' See a video of the entirely non-threatening and irrelevant 'droid after the break. ...

In his study of the 'uncanny,' Sigmund Freud writes, "The uncanny is that class of the frightening which leads back to what is known of old and long familiar." Through repression, Freud argues, the once-safe becomes foreign, disturbing, uncanny. Freudian thought influences Tony Oursler's newest pieces, debuting jointly at the Adobe Museum of Digital Media and at Lehmann-Maupin (IRL, no less). ...

Ask any animation modeler about the "uncanny valley," and you're sure to get at least a grimace, if not a groan. Said term describes the long-standing barrier which refers to the perception that "animation looks less realistic as it approaches human likeness." Image Metrics is hoping that a newfangled approach used to create Emily (pictured there on the right) will finally allow animations to look ...