Abstract
In the present work we provide an overview and categorization of explanatory approaches for the uncanny valley effect and present an empirical study. Against the background of the uncanny valley hypothesis, the study utilized qualitative interviews in which participants were presented with pictures and videos of potentially uncanny humanoid and android robots to explore participants’ evaluations of very human-like robots, their attitudes about these robots, and their emotional reactions towards these robots. In this regard, the influence of the robots’ appearance, movement and the context of HRI were examined. Results showed that, contrasting the hypothesis, participants reported not only negative, but also positive emotional reactions towards the possibly uncanny robots. The robots’ appearance was of great importance for the participants, because certain characteristics were equalized with certain abilities, merely human appearance without a connected functionality was not appreciated, and human rules of attractiveness were applied to the android robots. The analysis also demonstrated the importance of the robots’ movements and the social context they were placed in. The importance of two possible causes and explanations of the uncanny valley, namely uncertainty at category boundaries (cf. Ramey in Proceedings of views of the uncanny valley workshop: IEEE-RAS international conference on humanoid robots, 2005; Proceedings of the ICCS/CogSci-2006 long symposium “Toward Social Mechanisms of Android Science”, 2006) and subconscious fears of being replaced (cf. MacDorman & Ishiguro in Interact Stud 7(3):297–337, 2006) were explored in this work. On this reflective level of evaluation we found some support for the assumptions that participants experienced uncertainty how to categorize android robots (as human or machine) and that some (but not all) participants felt uncomfortable at the thought to be replaced by robots.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Mori M (1970) The uncanny valley. Energy 7(4):33–35
Mori M, MacDorman KF, Kageki N (2012) The uncanny valley. IEEE Robot Autom Mag 19(2):98–100. doi:10.1109/MRA.2012.2192811
Brenton M, Gillies M, Ballin D, Chatting D (2005) The Uncanny valley: does it exist? In: Proceedings of the 19th British HCI group annual conference: workshop on human-animated character interaction
Hanson D (2006) Exploring the aesthetic range for humanoid robots. In: Proceedings of the ICCS/CogSci-2006 long symposium: toward social mechanisms of android science, pp 39–42
Pollick FE (2010) In search of the uncanny valley. In: Daras P, Ibarra OM (eds) Proceedings of the 1st international conference on user centric media, revised selected papers. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg, pp 69–78
Bartneck C, Kanda T, Ishiguro H, Hagita N (2007) Is the uncanny valley an uncanny cliff? In: Proceedings of the 16th IEEE international conference on robot & human interactive communication. IEEE, Piscataway, NJ, pp 368–373. doi:10.1109/ROMAN.2007.4415111
Gee FC, Browne WN, Kawamura K (2005) Uncanny valley revisited. In: Proceedings of the 14th IEEE workshop on robot and human interactive communication. IEEE, Nashville, TN, pp 151–157. doi:10.1109/ROMAN.2005.1513772
Ishiguro H (2006) Interactive humanoids and androids as ideal interfaces for humans. In: Paris CL, Sidner CL, Edmonds E et al. (eds) IUI ’06. Proceedings of the 11th international conference on intelligent user interfaces. ACM Press, New York, pp 2–9. doi:10.1145/1111449.1111451
Ramey CH (2006) An inventory of reported characteristics for home computers, robots, and human beings: applications for android science and the uncanny valley. In: MacDorman KF, Ishiguro H (eds) Proceedings of the ICCS/CogSci-2006 long symposium “Toward Social Mechanisms of Android Science”, pp 21–25
Freud S (2003) The uncanny. In: Phillips A (ed) The uncanny. Penguin Books, New York, pp 123–159
Jentsch E (1997) On the psychology of the uncanny (1906). Angelaki J Theor Humanit 2(1):7–16. doi:10.1080/09697259708571910
Bartneck C, Kanda T, Ishiguro H, Hagita N (2009) My robotic doppelgänger—a critical look at the uncanny valley theory. In: Proceedings of the 18th IEEE international symposium on robot and human interactive communication. IEEE Press, Piscataway, NJ, pp 269–276. doi:10.1109/ROMAN.2009.5326351
Noma M, Saiwaki N, Itakura S, Ishiguro H (2006) Composition and evaluation of the humanlike motions of an android. In: Proceedings of the 6th IEEE-RAS international conference on humanoid robots. IEEE Press, Piscataway, NJ, pp 163–168. doi:10.1109/ICHR.2006.321379
Minato T, Shimada M, Ishiguro H, Itakura S (2004) Development of an android robot for studying human–robot interaction. In: Orchard B, Yang C, Moonis A (eds) Innov in Appl Artif Intel. Springer, New York, pp 424–434. doi:10.1007/978-3-540-24677-0_44
Burleigh TJ, Schoenherr JR, Lacroix GL (2013) Does the uncanny valley exist? An empirical test of the relationship between eeriness and the human likeness of digitally created faces. Comput Hum Behav 29(3):759–771. doi:10.1016/j.chb.2012.11.021
Cheetham M, Pavlovic I, Jordan N, Suter P, Jäncke L (2013) Category processing and the human likeness dimension of the uncanny valley hypothesis: eye-tracking data. Front Psychol 4. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00108
Cheetham M, Suter P, Jäncke L (2011) The human likeness dimension of the “uncanny valley hypothesis”: behavioral and functional MRI findings. Front Hum Neurosci 5. doi:10.3389/fnhum.2011.00126
MacDorman KF, Green RD, Ho C, Koch CT (2009) Too real for comfort: uncanny responses to computer generated faces. Comput Hum Behav 25:695–710. doi:10.1016/j.chb.2008.12.026
Saygin AP, Chaminade T, Ishiguro H, Driver J, Frith CD (2012) The thing that should not be: predictive coding and the uncanny valley in perceiving human and humanoid robot actions. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 7(4):413–422. doi:10.1093/scan/nsr025
Seyama J, Nagayama RS (2007) The uncanny valley: effect of realism on the impression of artificial human faces. Presence Teleoper Virtual Environ 16(4):337–351
MacDorman KF, Ishiguro H (2006) The uncanny advantage of using androids in cognitive and social science research. Interact Stud 7(3):297–337. doi:10.1075/is.7.3.03mac
Minsky M (1975) A framework for representing knowledge. In: Winston PH (ed) The psychology of computer vision. McGraw-Hill, New York, pp 211–277
Rozin P, Fallon AE (1987) A perspective on disgust. Psychol Rev 94(1):23–41
Rozin P, Haidt J, McCauley C, Dunlop L, Ashmore M (1999) Individual differences in disgust sensitivity: comparisons and evaluations of paper-and-pencil versus behavioral measures. J Res Personal 33(3):330–351
Nesse RM (2005) Natural selection and the regulation of defenses: a signal detection analysis of the smoke detector principle. Evol Hum Behav 26(1):88–105. doi:10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2004.08.002
Schaller M, Park JH (2011) The behavioral immune system (and why it matters). Curr Dir Psychol Sci 20(2):99–103. doi:10.1177/0963721411402596
Ramey CH (2005) The uncanny valley of similarities concerning abortion, baldness, heaps of sand, and humanlike robots. In: Proceedings of views of the uncanny valley workshop: IEEE-RAS international conference on humanoid robots, Tsukuba, Japan, pp 8–13
Aquino J (2011) Nine jobs that humans may lose to robots. Downside: a replicant may be watching your kid; upside: fewer lawyers. www.nbcnews.com
Sherman E (2013) Robots are going to take your job. www.cbsnews.com
Sharkey N (2008) The ethical frontiers of robotics. Science 322(5909):1800–1801. doi:10.1126/science.1164582
Sharkey N, Sharkey A (2010) Robot nannies get a wheel in the door: a response to the commentaries. Interact Stud 11:302–313
Sharkey N, Sharkey A (2010) The crying shame of robot nannies: an ethical appraisal. Interact Stud 11:161–190. doi:10.1075/is.11.2.01sha
Nomura T, Kanda T, Suzuki T, Kato K (2005) People’s assumptions about robots: investigation of their relationships with attitudes and emotions toward robots. In: Proceedings of the 14th IEEE international workshop on robot and human interactive communication. IEEE, Piscataway, NJ, pp 125–130. doi:10.1109/ROMAN.2005.1513768
Nomura T, Suzuki T, Kanda T, Kato K (2006) Measurement of negative attitudes toward robots. Interact Stud 7(3):437–454. doi:10.1075/is.7.3.14nom
Nomura T, Shintani T, Fujii K, Hokabe K (2007) Experimental investigations of relationships between anxiety, negative attitudes, and allowable distance of robots. In: Cunliffe D (ed) Proceedings of the 2nd IASTED international conference on human–computer interaction. ACTA Press, Anaheim, pp 13–18
Nomura T, Suzuki T, Kanda T, Kato K (2007) Measurement of anxiety toward robots. In: Proceedings of the 16th IEEE international conference on robot and human interactive communication. IEEE Press; IEEE, Piscataway, NJ, pp 372–377. doi:10.1109/ROMAN.2006.314462
Ho C, MacDorman KF, Pramono Z (2008) Human emotion and the uncanny valley: a GLM, MDS, and Isomap analysis of robot video ratings. In: Fong T, Dautenhahn K, Scheutz M et al (eds) Proceedings of the 3rd ACM/IEEE international conference on human robot interaction. ACM, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, pp 169–176
Carpenter J, Davis J, Erwin-Stewart N, Lee T, Bransford J, Vye N (2009) Gender representation and humanoid robots designed for domestic use. Int J Soc Robot 1(3):261–265. doi:10.1007/s12369-009-0016-4
Sobieraj S (2012) What is virtually beautiful is good-Der Einfluss physiognomischer und nonverbaler Gesichtsmerkmale auf die Attribution von Attraktivität, sozialer Kompetenz und Dominanz. PhD thesis, University of Duisburg-Essen
Dautenhahn K, Woods SN, Kaouri C, Walters ML, Koay KL, Werry I (2005) What is a robot companion—friend, assistant or butler? In: Proceedings of the IEEE/RSJ international conference on intelligent robots and systems. IEEE Operations Center, Piscataway, NJ, pp 1488–1493. doi:10.1109/IROS.2005.1545189
MacDorman KF (2006) Subjective ratings of robot video clips for human likeness, familarity, and eeriness: an exploration of the uncanny valley. In: Proceedings of the toward social mechanisms of android science ICCS/CogSci-2006 long symposium, pp 26–29
Lohse M, Hegel F, Swadzba A, Rohlfing KJ, Wachsmuth S, Wrede B (2007) What can I do for you? Appearance and application of robots. In: Proceedings of the reign of catz and dogz? The role of virtual creatures in a computerised society, symposium at AISB’07, pp 121–126
Schermerhorn P, Scheutz M, Crowell CR (2008) Robot social presence and gender: do females view robots differently than males? In: Fong T, Dautenhahn K, Scheutz M et al (eds) Proceedings of the 3rd ACM/IEEE international conference on human robot interaction. ACM, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, pp 263–270
Bartneck C, Suzuki T, Kanda T, Nomura T (2006) The influence of people’s culture and prior experiences with Aibo on their attitude towards robots. AI Soc 21(1–2):217–230. doi:10.1007/s00146-006-0052-7
Bartneck C (2008) Who like androids more: Japanese or US Americans? In: Proceedings of the 17th IEEE international symposium on robot and human interactive communication. IEEE, Piscataway, NJ, pp 553–557. doi:10.1109/ROMAN.2008.4600724
Mavridis N, Katsaiti M, Naef S, Falasi A, Nuaimi A, Araifi H, Kitbi A (2012) Opinions and attitudes toward humanoid robots in the Middle East. AI Soc 27(4):517–534. doi:10.1007/s00146-011-0370-2
Nomura T, Suzuki T, Kanda T, Han J, Shin N, Burke JL, Kato K (2008) What people assume about humanoid and animal-type robots: cross-cultural analysis between Japan, Korea, and the United States. Int J Humanoid Robot 05(01):25–46. doi:10.1142/S0219843608001297
Piaget J (1951) The child’s conception of the world. Routledge and Kegan Paul, London
Woods SN, Dautenhahn K, Schulz J (2004) The design space of robots: investigating children’s views. In: Proceedings of the 13th IEEE international workshop on robot and human interactive communication. IEEE, Piscataway, NJ, pp 47–52. doi:10.1109/ROMAN.2004.1374728
Kahn PH, Kanda T, Ishiguro H, Freier N, Severson RL, Gill BT, Ruckert JH, Shen S (2012) “Robovie, you’ll have to go into the closet now”: children’s social and moral relationships with a humanoid robot. Dev Psychol 48(2):303–314. doi:10.1037/a0027033
Jipson JL, Gelman SA (2007) Robots and rodents: children’s inferences about living and nonliving kinds. Child Dev 78(6):1675–1688
Beran TN, Ramirez-Serrano A, Kuzyk R, Fior M, Nugent S (2011) Understanding how children understand robots: perceived animism in child–robot interaction. Int J Hum Comput Stud 69(7):539–550
Bernstein D, Crowley K (2008) Searching for signs of intelligent life: an investigation of young children’s beliefs about robot intelligence. J Learn Sci 17(2):225–247
Scopelliti M, Giuliani MV, D’Amico AM, Fornara F (2004) If I had a robot at home\({\ldots }\) peoples’ representation of domestic robots. In: Keates S, Clarkson JP, Langdon P et al (eds) Designing a more inclusive world. Springer, London, pp 257–266. doi:10.1007/978-0-85729-372-5_26
Landis JR, Koch GG (1977) The measurement of observer agreement for categorical data. Biometrics 33(1):159–174
Krippendorff K (1980) Content analysis: an introduction to its methodology. Sage Publications, Beverly Hills
MacDorman KF (2005) Mortality salience and the uncanny valley. In: Proceedings of the 5th IEEE-RAS international conference on humanoid robots. IEEE Operations Center, Piscataway, NJ, pp 399–405. doi:10.1109/ICHR.2005.1573600
Rosenthal-von der Pütten AM, Krämer NC (2014) How design characteristics of robots determine evaluation and uncanny valley related responses. Comput Hum Behav 36:422–439. doi:10.1016/j.chb.2014.03.066
MacDorman KF (2005) Androids as an experimental apparatus: why is there an uncanny valley and can we exploit it? In: Proceedings of the Cog Sci 2005 workshop: toward social mechanisms of android science, pp 106–118
Ickes W (1997) Empathic accuracy. The Guilford Press, New York
Handelman M, Hoberman D, Lieberman T, Mostow J (2009) Surrogates. Touchstone Pictures, Burbank
Powers A, Kramer A, Lim S, Kuo J, Sau-lai L, Kiesler S (2005) Eliciting information from people with a gendered humanoid robot. In: ROMAN 2005. IEEE international workshop on robot and human interactive communication, pp 158–163. doi:10.1109/ROMAN.2005.1513773
McDorman KF, Vasudevan SK, Ho C (2009) Does Japan really have robot mania? Comparing attitudes by implicit and explicit measures. AI Soc 23(4):485–510. doi:10.1007/s00146-008-0181-2
Kahn PH, Gary HE, Shen S (2013) Children’s Social Relationships With Current and Near-Future Robots. Child Dev Perspect 7(1):32–37
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by a doctoral fellowship of the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes (German National Academic Foundation).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Electronic supplementary material
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Rosenthal-von der Pütten, A.M., Krämer, N.C. Individuals’ Evaluations of and Attitudes Towards Potentially Uncanny Robots. Int J of Soc Robotics 7, 799–824 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12369-015-0321-z
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12369-015-0321-z