Original Articles

The real reason clowns scare us

This Halloween may be the scariest in a long time. Facing the usual huge crowds of zombies, witches and vampires, deep down, many of us most fear running into one of the “killer clowns” that have been spotted in creepy places across the world over the past few months.

UNCANNY valley: why we find human-like robots and dolls so creepy

The “uncanny valley” is a characteristic dip in emotional response that happens when we encounter an entity that is almost, but not quite, human. It was first hypothesised in 1970 by Japanese roboticist Masahiro Mori who identified that as robots became more human-like, people would find them to be more acceptable and appealing than their mechanical counterparts. But this only held true to up a point. When they were close to, but not quite, human, people developed a sense of unease and discomfort. If human-likeness increased beyond this point, and the became very close to human, the emotional response returned to being positive. It is this distinctive dip in the relationship between human-likeness and emotional response that is called the uncanny valley.

Realistic robot faces aren’t enough – we need emotion to put us at ease with androids

When the first guests arrive at Nagasaki’s Hotel Henn Na in July this year, they will be greeted and served by robots. In a similar approach, Toshiba’s android Aiko recently held a short-term role greeting customers at a department store in Tokyo. Customers were comfortable approaching Aiko to ask for directions and even the receptionist who normally holds the post felt her android colleague was doing a reasonable job.