Collaborate Disseminate
There are a few things historically difficult to make a robot do. Stairs, of course, are the obvious problem. But realistic blinking behavior is harder than you might think. At …read more Continue reading Never Stare Down a Robot
Wikipedia says “The uncanny valley hypothesis predicts that an entity appearing almost human will risk eliciting cold, eerie feelings in viewers.” And yes, we have to admit that as incredible …read more Continue reading Taking A Stroll Down Uncanny Valley With The Artificial Muscle Robotic Arm
A web search for “Uncanny Valley” will retrieve a lot of information about that discomfort we feel when an artificial creation is eerily lifelike. The syndrome tells us a lot about both human psychology and design challenges ahead. What about the opposite, when machines are clearly machines? Are we all clear? It turns out the answer is “No” as [Christine Sunu] explained at a Hackaday Los Angeles meetup. (Video also embedded below.)
When we build a robot, we know what’s inside the enclosure. But people who don’t know tend to extrapolate too much based only on the simple behavior they …read more
Continue reading Emotional Hazards That Lurk Far From The Uncanny Valley
Modeling machines off of biological patterns is the dry definition of biomimicry. For most people, this means the structure of robots and how they move, but Christine Sunu makes the argument that we should be thinking a lot more about how biomimicry has the power to make us feel something. Her talk at the 2017 Hackaday Superconference looks at what makes robots more than cold metal automatons. There is great power in designing to complement natural emotional reactions in humans — to make machines that feel alive.
We live in a world that is being filled with robots and increasingly …read more
Continue reading Christine Sunu Proves the Effect of Being Alive on Hardware Design
Most of us have seen employees of Boston Dynamics kicking their robots, and many of us instinctively react with horror. More recently I’ve watched my own robots being petted, applauded for their achievements, and yes, even kicked.
Why do people react the way they do when mechanical creations are treated as if they were people, pets, or worse? There are some very interesting things to learn about ourselves when considering the treatment of robots as subhuman. But it’s equally interesting to consider the ramifications of treating them as human.
Shown here are two snapshots of Boston …read more
“Human relationships can be hard to define.” Continue reading I Talked to Four Humanoid Robots and They’re Mostly Dumb as Doornails
“Human relationships can be hard to define.” Continue reading I Talked to Four Humanoid Robots and They’re Mostly Dumb as Doornails
