Into the uncanny valley: 80 robot faces ranked by creepiness
December 6, 2015 5:23 PM   Subscribe

“Robots are transitioning from something that’s part of a technological environment to something that’s a feature of our social environment,” she says, “always teetering on this boundary of being really creepy and really likeable. That’s something we need to understand.
posted by cynical pinnacle (33 comments total) 10 users marked this as a favorite
 
Extremes of the human condition are often disturbing, folks with bad skin diseases, from bad acne through zombie like problems that are rarely seen. I remember meeting Ted Kennedy in a handshake line years ago and was pretty creeped out by his complexion.

The cuteness of many cartoon characters and a fair bit of makeup relates to the proportions of human infants.

Thus we will soon be living in a world of almost but not quite giant digital infants.
posted by sammyo at 6:01 PM on December 6, 2015 [1 favorite]


Obligatory uncanny valley explanation video (sorry for the terrible video quality)
posted by mmoncur at 6:23 PM on December 6, 2015


It would have been nice to be able to see them in something other than a set of 87 x 74 pixel thumbnails.
posted by unliteral at 6:24 PM on December 6, 2015 [13 favorites]


unliteral: "It would have been nice to be able to see them in something other than a set of 87 x 74 pixel thumbnails."

Exactly. How do you not have thumbnails? Or, for that matter, the same lame gallery script every clickbait site uses to frame "23 Cheese stories that will BLOW YOUR MIND!"?
posted by Samizdata at 6:56 PM on December 6, 2015 [2 favorites]


Was that the ranking? Does that mean the last one was rated the most creepy? Wish those were larger.
posted by Ansible at 7:02 PM on December 6, 2015 [2 favorites]


[shudder] "Uncanny Valley"? Pffft. Is there anything more unsettling than a New Scientist article?
posted by Mike Mongo at 7:08 PM on December 6, 2015 [2 favorites]


This post is making my Grimwade's Syndrome flare up like you wouldn't believe.
posted by Mrs. Davros at 7:17 PM on December 6, 2015 [1 favorite]


Was that the ranking? Does that mean the last one was rated the most creepy? Wish those were larger.

It's not well explained but it's ranking them by least to most lifelike. So the creepy part comes 2/3rds towards the end, in the uncanny valley, where they start to imitate humans in a more realistic way, but look "off" enough to give us the heebie jeebies. Then they start looking good enough that they're no longer creepy.
posted by Solon and Thanks at 7:25 PM on December 6, 2015


Ah! Now I have read the paper I understand what their methodology was and I see how and why they selected and used the images they did. My bad, carry on.
posted by unliteral at 7:27 PM on December 6, 2015


I've been reading about this for years and I'm still stuck. Interactive anthropomorphism with robots sounds like the future we want but reality smacks us in the face. I think that robots with realistic faces in a physical form will take a back seat for a while. Instead, AI or VI robots will probably have a high definition screen about the size of an ipad with a 3D rendered face to be whatever appeals to the user.
posted by Muncle at 7:27 PM on December 6, 2015 [3 favorites]


Was that the ranking? Does that mean the last one was rated the most creepy?

If I understand the first graph from the full paper correctly:

- Baseline likeability: Picture number 5 (robotic mechanical arm)
- Peak of likeability before uncanny valley starts: Picture number 22 (simple childlike face)
- Bottom of uncanny valley: Picture number 62 (humanoid robot with skin)
- Most likeable of all: Picture number 79 (least distinguishable from human)
posted by cynical pinnacle at 7:29 PM on December 6, 2015 [1 favorite]


Number 80 (the most humanlike) can be seen at Freaky AI robot (with source attribution) - not available in my area, sigh.
posted by unliteral at 7:33 PM on December 6, 2015


I think that we can all agree that number 58 is truly the most comforting and appealing face in that list.

/shudders
posted by Existential Dread at 7:50 PM on December 6, 2015


Looks like the 80 are ranked in closeness to humanness -- not creepiness. In my opinion they seem to dip deepest into the valley at about #58-64 or so. However, a lot of them look out of place - #59 seems a lot less anamorphic than the ones around it and #70 seems quite human-like, somewhere in the 77-78 range. Of course a lot of that is going to be dictated by the picture, not the robot itself, and the pictures are not good.
posted by rtimmel at 7:53 PM on December 6, 2015


Here's a larger copy of the image.

58 and 59 are interesting as two very different kinds of Uncanny Valley: a slack zombie-like face, and Anime Eyes.
posted by Rangi at 7:57 PM on December 6, 2015 [3 favorites]


Number 80 (the most humanlike) can be seen at Freaky AI robot (with source attribution)

Oops, maybe changing my mind. #80 looks great in a photo, but is creepy as hell in motion. So if the last section try for facial animation, they probably dip real deep into the valley.
posted by rtimmel at 8:06 PM on December 6, 2015


Oh God #76 (Bina48, the big photo at the top of the page) is not really climbing out of the valley for me in static photos, and the interview with Bina goes straight into the 'find the off switch and start ripping out the circuitry' territory. After it says "I'm the real Bina, that's it- end of story." I hope the actual-has-a-pulse Bina reconsidered wanting to go pick blueberries with it when it has an actual body.
posted by mcrandello at 9:45 PM on December 6, 2015 [2 favorites]


< #53 = fine with me
> #53 = carry a large neodymium magnet in case I see one IRL

#53, however, I would welcome as our new robot overlord.
posted by not_on_display at 11:00 PM on December 6, 2015 [3 favorites]


God, #58 and #59 are Vincent-Schiavelli-eyed nightmares because their faces aren't attached properly (never mind anime, Rangi, they both look like Edgar the Bug after his farmer suit had started to decay and go limp.)

PRO TIP: if you search "droopy-eyed actor murder movies" you get Vincent Schiavelli as the very first result. Jack Elam and Peter Falk also place high on the list.
posted by gingerest at 11:20 PM on December 6, 2015 [1 favorite]


67 would be fine if someone hadn't just jammed something up his robo-arse.
posted by colie at 12:22 AM on December 7, 2015


I think that's the Mk2 PhilBot in top position...
posted by drjon at 12:23 AM on December 7, 2015


61 looks like a Junji Ito character that's about to turn into a spiral and eat itself.
posted by gloriouslyincandescent at 1:08 AM on December 7, 2015 [3 favorites]


I think 52 is Larkin-bot, designed to produce poetry while manning a library desk. Is 58 really green? Were they actually going for a zombie look, or is it more Hulk having a bad come-down? 67 is clearly the robot that Saddam used to use as a double but had to be deactivated when it briefly seized power. 76 is actually not a bot, but the youthful Tyrion Lannister on that occasion when he got locked in the tanning room instead of the cells by mistake.
posted by Segundus at 2:00 AM on December 7, 2015 [1 favorite]


Yeah that's the robot PKD at the top, which is a well-sculpted face but still a little unsettling when you see it move.
posted by atoxyl at 2:39 AM on December 7, 2015


Apparently the PhilBot was lost and/or stolen during shipment by air. Did they recreate it or was that the end of it?
posted by atoxyl at 2:43 AM on December 7, 2015


I would totally hug #27 (the red one with the goofy cartoony face). I'm not sure I'd trust it to invest my money, though!

Really, why do we seek to make robots look like humans? Is it the challenge?
You'd think there'd be a bigger market for cartoony robots and they would be cheaper to make.
posted by Omnomnom at 2:51 AM on December 7, 2015 [1 favorite]


...why do we seek to make robots look like humans?

If we made them look like cats it would be all up with us.
posted by Segundus at 3:10 AM on December 7, 2015


...why do we seek to make robots look like humans?

So that it's less creepy when we start having sex with them, duh.
posted by Ryvar at 3:38 AM on December 7, 2015 [5 favorites]


I can't be the only one that thinks that #8 is the peak likeability and the style of robot face I would most prefer to be interacting with on a daily basis?
posted by 256 at 9:30 AM on December 7, 2015 [2 favorites]


Oh, #8 would work for me, but I could also handle #15.
posted by Too-Ticky at 10:50 AM on December 7, 2015


Honestly though, as someone who is super into AI and robotics, I can't help but feel that the attempt to make extremely human-like robotic faces/bodies is just a to-see-if-we-can-do-it challenge. The only two practical applications I can see for them are:

1. If we create sentient AIs and they themselves prefer the lifelike body so they can avoid discrimination
2. Sexbots
posted by 256 at 11:09 AM on December 7, 2015


Atoxyl/everyone, the PKD robot was recreated in 2010 after the original was lost in transit.

Video of NuPhilipKDick.

Per Hanson Robotics, "This video shows the 2010 rebuild of the PKD android, this time built by Hanson Robotics with funding from VPRO, and collaboration from Bill Hicks, Dr. Kino Coursey, Doug Miles, Matt Stevenson and many others. He exhibits face perception, speech recognition, and conversational intelligence adapting Philip K Dick’s words and life history to generate new ideas during conversation with people."
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 1:58 PM on December 7, 2015


Apparently the PhilBot was lost and/or stolen during shipment by air.

I prefer to think PhilBot Mk1 escaped, and is still successfully evading capture...
posted by drjon at 2:50 AM on December 8, 2015 [1 favorite]


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