scholarly journals Human-like Robots and the Uncanny Valley: A Meta-Analysis of User Responses Based on the Godspeed Scales

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martina Mara ◽  
Markus Appel ◽  
Timo Gnambs
Keyword(s):  
Adverse Effects ◽  
Random Effects ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Human Robot Interaction ◽  
Curvilinear Relationship ◽  
Uncanny Valley ◽  
Robot Interaction ◽  
Total N ◽  
The Uncanny ◽  
Human Likeness

In the field of human-robot interaction, the well-known uncanny valley hypothesis proposes a curvilinear relationship between a robot’s degree of human likeness and the observers’ responses to the robot. While low to medium human likeness should be associated with increasingly positive responses, a shift to negative responses is expected for highly anthropomorphic robots. As empirical findings on the uncanny valley hypothesis are inconclusive, we conducted a random-effects meta-analysis of 49 studies (total N = 3,556) that reported 131 evaluations of robots based on the Godspeed scales for anthropomorphism (i.e., human likeness) and likability. Our results confirm more positive responses for more human-like robots at low to medium anthropomorphism, with moving robots rated as more human-like but not necessarily more likable than static ones. However, because highly anthropomorphic robots were sparsely utilized in previous studies, no conclusions regarding proposed adverse effects at higher levels of human likeness can be made at this stage.

scholarly journals The Exploration of the Uncanny Valley from the Viewpoint of the Robot’s Nonverbal Behaviour

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chidchanok Thepsoonthorn ◽  
Ken-ichiro Ogawa ◽  
Yoshihiro Miyake
Keyword(s):  
Nonverbal Behavior ◽  
Exploratory Study ◽  
Fixation Duration ◽  
Human Robot Interaction ◽  
Uncanny Valley ◽  
Robot Interaction ◽  
Nonverbal Behaviour ◽  
The Uncanny ◽  
Head Nodding ◽  
Human Likeness

AbstractMany studies have been conducted to find approaches to overcome the Uncanny Valley. However, the focus on the influence of the robot’s appearance leaves a big missing part: the influence of the robot’s nonverbal behaviour. This impedes the complete exploration of the Uncanny Valley. In this study, we explored the Uncanny Valley from the viewpoint of the robot’s nonverbal behaviour in regard to the Uncanny Valley hypothesis. We observed a relationship between the participants’ ratings on human-likeness of the robot’s nonverbal behavior and affinity toward the robot’s nonverbal behavior, and define the point where the affinity toward the robot’s nonverbal behavior significantly drops down as the Uncanny Valley. In this study, an experiment of human–robot interaction was conducted. The participants were asked to interact with a robot with different nonverbal behaviours, ranging from 0 (no nonverbal behavior, speaking only) to 3 (gaze, head nodding, and gestures) combinations and to rate the perceived human-likeness and affinity toward the robot’s nonverbal behavior by using a questionnaire. Additionally, the participants’ fixation duration was measured during the experiment. The result showed a biphasic relationship between human-likeness and affinity rating results. A curve resembling the Uncanny Valley is found. The result was also supported by participants’ fixation duration. It showed that the participants had the longest fixation at the robot when the robot expressed the nonverbal behaviours that fall into the Uncanny Valley. This exploratory study provides evidence suggesting the existence of the Uncanny Valley from the viewpoint of the robot’s nonverbal behaviour.

scholarly journals Attitude Towards Humanoid Robots and the Uncanny Valley Hypothesis

2019 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 101-119 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paweł Łupkowski ◽  
Marta Gierszewska
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Emotional Response ◽  
Statistical Significance ◽  
Humanoid Robots ◽  
Human Robot Interaction ◽  
Comfort Level ◽  
Uncanny Valley ◽  
Robot Interaction ◽  
Negative Attitudes ◽  
The Uncanny

AbstractThe main aim of the presented study was to check whether the well-established measures concerning the attitude towards humanoid robots are good predictors for the uncanny valley effect. We present a study in which 12 computer rendered humanoid models were presented to our subjects. Their declared comfort level was cross-referenced with the Belief in Human Nature Uniqueness (BHNU) and the Negative Attitudes toward Robots that Display Human Traits (NARHT) scales. Subsequently, there was no evidence of a statistical significance between these scales and the existence of the uncanny valley phenomenon. However, correlations between expected stress level while human-robot interaction and both BHNU, as well as NARHT scales, were found. The study covered also the evaluation of the perceived robots’ characteristic and the emotional response to them.

scholarly journals Sending an Avatar to Do a Human's Job: Compliance with Authority Persists Despite the Uncanny Valley

2015 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Himalaya Patel ◽  
Karl F. MacDorman
Keyword(s):  
Ethical Dilemma ◽  
Sensitive Information ◽  
Uncanny Valley ◽  
Human Communication ◽  
Risk Of Falling ◽  
Computer Interfaces ◽  
The Uncanny ◽  
Authority Figure ◽  
Human Likeness ◽  
Motion Quality

Just as physical appearance affects social influence in human communication, it may also affect the processing of advice conveyed through avatars, computer-animated characters, and other human-like interfaces. Although the most persuasive computer interfaces are often the most human-like, they have been predicted to incur the greatest risk of falling into the uncanny valley, the loss of empathy attributed to characters that appear eerily human. Previous studies compared interfaces on the left side of the uncanny valley, namely, those with low human likeness. To examine interfaces with higher human realism, a between-groups factorial experiment was conducted through the internet with 426 midwestern U.S. undergraduates. This experiment presented a hypothetical ethical dilemma followed by the advice of an authority figure. The authority was manipulated in three ways: depiction (digitally recorded or computer animated), motion quality (smooth or jerky), and advice (disclose or refrain from disclosing sensitive information). Of these, only the advice changed opinion about the ethical dilemma, even though the animated depiction was significantly eerier than the human depiction. These results indicate that compliance with an authority persists even when using an uncannily realistic computer-animated double.

scholarly journals Virtual faces evoke only a weak uncanny valley effect: An empirical investigation with controlled virtual face images

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jari Kätsyri ◽  
Beatrice de Gelder ◽  
Tapio Takala
Keyword(s):  
Linear Relationship ◽  
Empirical Investigation ◽  
Subjective Evaluation ◽  
Objective Measures ◽  
Uncanny Valley ◽  
Face Images ◽  
The Uncanny ◽  
Human Likeness ◽  
Upward Curvature ◽  
Virtual Face

The uncanny valley (UV) hypothesis suggests that increasingly human-like robots or virtual characters elicit more familiarity in their observers (positive affinity) with the exception of near-human characters that elicit strong feelings of eeriness (negative affinity). We studied this hypothesis in three experiments with carefully matched images of virtual faces varying from artificial to realistic. We investigated both painted and computer-generated (CG) faces to tap a broad range of human-likeness and to test whether CG faces would be particularly sensitive to the UV effect. Overall, we observed a linear relationship with a slight upward curvature between human-likeness and affinity. In other words, less realistic faces triggered greater eeriness in an accelerating manner. We also observed a weak UV effect for CG faces; however, least human-like faces elicited much more negative affinity in comparison. We conclude that although CG faces elicit a weak UV effect, this effect is not fully analogous to the original UV hypothesis. Instead, the subjective evaluation curve for face images resembles an uncanny slope more than a UV. Based on our results, we also argue that subjective affinity should be contrasted against subjective ratherthan objective measures of human-likeness when testing UV.

scholarly journals Category Processing and the human likeness dimension of the Uncanny Valley Hypothesis: Eye-Tracking Data

2013 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcus Cheetham ◽  
Ivana Pavlovic ◽  
Nicola Jordan ◽  
Pascal Suter ◽  
Lutz Jancke
Keyword(s):  
Eye Tracking ◽  
Uncanny Valley ◽  
Tracking Data ◽  
The Uncanny ◽  
Human Likeness

scholarly journals Humanoid Robot Head Design Based on Uncanny Valley and FACS

2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jizheng Yan ◽  
Zhiliang Wang ◽  
Yan Yan
Keyword(s):  
Intelligent Control ◽  
Humanoid Robot ◽  
Human Robot Interaction ◽  
Human Being ◽  
Uncanny Valley ◽  
Coding System ◽  
Robot Interaction ◽  
Series Of Experiments ◽  
Robot Head ◽  
The Relationship

Emotional robots are always the focus of artificial intelligence (AI), and intelligent control of robot facial expression is a hot research topic. This paper focuses on the design of humanoid robot head, which is divided into three steps to achieve. The first step is to solve the uncanny valley about humanoid robot, to find and avoid the relationship between human being and robot; the second step is to solve the association between human face and robot head; compared with human being and robots, we analyze the similarities and differences and explore the same basis and mechanisms between robot and human analyzing the Facial Action Coding System (FACS), which guides us to achieve humanoid expressions. On the basis of the previous two steps, the third step is to construct a robot head; through a series of experiments we test the robot head, which could show some humanoid expressions; through human-robot interaction, we find people are surprised by the robot head expression and feel happy.

Human-likeness assessment for the Uncanny Valley Hypothesis

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Paweł Łupkowski ◽  
Marek Rybka ◽  
Dagmara Dziedzic ◽  
Wojciech Włodarczyk
Keyword(s):  
Uncanny Valley ◽  
The Uncanny ◽  
Internal Part ◽  
Human Likeness ◽  
Typical Model ◽  
The Way

AbstractThe Uncanny Valley Hypothesis (UVH, proposed in the 1970s) suggests that looking at or interacting with almost human-like artificial characters would trigger eeriness or discomfort. We studied how well subjects can assess degrees of human likeness for computer-generated characters. We conducted two studies, where subjects were asked to assess human likeness of given computer-generated models (Study 1) and to point the most typical model for a given category (Study 2). The results suggest that evaluation of the way human likeness is assessed should be an internal part of UVH research.

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