The Uncanny Valley
One of the topics that I found typically interesting this week, was the boundaries between “real” and “artificial” online representations. New technologies have allowed us to create facial features and expressions so realistic, that it toys with our perception of humans and machines. A notion that I find very intriguing is the ‘Uncanny Valley ‘ theory by robotics professor Masahiro Mori. This was briefly mentioned in the Tomoko Koda reading, yet they failed to explore this notion further for readers who are previously unfamiliar with the theory. I believe this is a very important factor in relation to avatar culture, and therefore I’ve decided to expand on this concept that seems to have been skimmed over this week.
In the International Journal of Robotics and Automation, Tondu & Bardou (2011) give their interpretation of Mori’s Theory:
Mori’s uncanny valley can be understood as a warning for future developments in humanoid robotics: if the robot resembles a human being too much, it can generate “a sense of strangeness” – Tondu & Bardou, 2011, p.337
This theory was developed in 1970, when Avatars did not exists. However as videogames began to become more realistic, this theory which was based on robotic structures began to transcend in to avatar animation as well. It is is much easier to understand the theory based on the model below.