Uncanny Valley

The Uncanny Valley of human-robot interactions

The device named “Spark” flew high above the man on stage with his hands waving in the direction of the flying object. In a demonstration of DJI’s newest drone, the audience marveled at the Cok...

02 June 2017, by Oliver Mitchell

Why it’s difficult to trust robots

Robots raise all kinds of concerns. They could steal our jobs, as some experts think. And if artificial intelligence grows, it might even be tempted to enslave us, or to annihilate the whole of humani...

19 April 2017, by Joffrey Becker

Understanding social robotics

Pepper, Jibo and Milo make up the first generation of social robots, leading what promises to be a cohort with diverse capabilities and future applications. But what are social robots and what should...

24 January 2017, by Thosha Moodley

One being for two origins: A new perspective on roboethics

The concept One Being for Two Origins, from the teachings of Buddha, considers the unification of technology, nature, and human beings. It emerges from the theory of the three aspects: The values of t...

08 December 2016, by Yueh-Hsuan Weng

In case you missed the Uncanny Valley session at IROS

Many of us from the Robohub team were at the landmark Uncanny Valley session at IROS this year - it turned out to be one of those wish-I'd-been-there events for anyone unlucky enough to have missed it...

20 November 2013, by Hallie Siegel

What were the highlights at IROS/iREX this year?

Photo credit: Taichi on Wikimedia Commons. Robohub team members just returned from an exciting trip to Tokyo, where we attended the 2013 IROS conference and the concurrent iREX robot expo. With so ma...

13 November 2013, by RBI Editors

Frank Tobe on “What were the highlights at IROS/iREX this year?”

Two images remain in my mind from IROS 2013 last week in Tokyo. The respect for Professor Emeritus Mori and his charting of the uncanny valley in relation to robotics, and the need for a Watson-type s...

13 November 2013, by Frank Tobe

Andra Keay on “What were the highlights at IROS/iREX this year?”

For me, the highlight of IROS was the Uncanny Valley special session, although the sheer size of the IROS conference and the parallel iRex industrial and service robot expo also gave much food for tho...

13 November 2013, by Andra Keay

“A Paro walks into a club…” (or, Notes on the design of automated body language)

This article discusses personality design and how proper natural language interface design includes body language. The article is about the design of hearts and minds for robots. It argues that psyc...

05 June 2013, by Mark Stephen Meadows

The uncanny valet (or, Notes on the design of robot psychology)

This article outlines the problems of today's phone and online help systems and offers solutions to conversational systems of tomorrow. The article is about the design of hearts and minds for robots, ...

04 May 2013, by Mark Stephen Meadows