'Uncanny valley' effect highlighted
Updated on 25 October 2007
Gollum, the loathsome nearly-human creature in the Lord of the Rings, invokes feelings of revulsion that may have evolved to keep us healthy, researchers believe.
Experts call the phenomenon the "uncanny valley" effect, and it may pose serious obstacles for the designers of life-like robots.
A robot that bears no resemblance to a human is much more readily accepted than one with disconcerting human characteristics.
The addition of artificial skin or a realistic voice, for example, may produce feelings of "spookiness" or fear. In contrast, a droid such as R2D2 from Star Wars - which looks more like a pepper pot than a human - can be positively endearing.
The new evidence suggests that the "uncanny valley" effect stems from an innate desire to avoid infectious disease. It may have evolved to keep us at arm's length from individuals bearing unsightly deformities or blemishes associated with infection.
"Very life-like robots seem almost human but, like people with visible disease, aspects of their appearance jar," New Scientist magazine reported.
Animators working on the Lord of the Rings films exploited the effect by giving Gollum a voice that sounded human while his body and movements were almost reptilian.
One scientist, Dr Karl MacDorman, from Indiana University in Indianapolis, US, investigated the "uncanny valley" effect by recording the emotions of more than 140 subjects shown moving robots of varying human likeness.
Robots which prompted feelings of uncanniness also tended to provoke fear, shock, disgust and nervousness. These emotions are all typical responses to diseased bodies, says Dr MacDorman.
He suggests that the "uncanny valley" phenomenon may arise from a "fear of one's own mortality" and an "evolved mechanism for avoiding pathogens".
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