The uncanny valley: A focus on misaligned cues

Abstract

Increasingly, humanoid robots and androids are easing into society for a wide variety of different uses. Previous research has shown that careful design of such robots is crucial as subtle flaws in their appearance, vocals and movement can give rise to feelings of unease in those interacting with them. Recently, the Bayesian model for the uncanny has suggested that conflicting or misaligned cues at category boundaries may be the main attributing factor of this phenomenon. The results from this study imply that this is indeed the case and serve as empirical evidence for the Bayesian theory.