Subsurface scattering. Also a bane of CGI.
If I were designing a robot for some special purpose, or even adding general faculties like locomotion, vision, or ratiocination, then (as others have pointed out) there is no a priori reason to base those capabilities upon human models as though humans achieve some kind of global optimum when it comes to their way of doing things.
As for the use of “very human looking robots” in various customer-facing positions, remember, robots are expensive, while humans are cheap, malleable, disposable, and reproduce themselves. [Though we cannot deny the important contributions to sexbot technology made by subsidiaries of Yoyodyne and the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation.]
The reason they are so deep into the Uncanny Valley is because they are very realistic, but not quite. The Uncanny Valley scale shows that robots, moveable toys and such become ‘cuter’ or more ‘likeable’ the more lifelike or humanoid they get, to a point. Think C-3PO, who is humanoid but clearly not trying to pass as ‘human’. But this rise in ‘cuteness’ only lasts until they get very close but not quite human, at which point they evoke a strong feeling of creepiness because our brains want to process the things as ‘human’ but know something is clearly off.
By far the least creepy example in that ‘Uncanny Valley Sally’ video link the OP provided is the ‘Albert Einstein HUBO’ figure, but that’s because the creators didn’t try to make it too humanoid-- it’s doll-sized, a foot tall or so, with non-human body proportions. It’s still very much in the ‘cute’ zone. If it was commercialized it could be the next ‘Furby’ this holiday season!
A good marker for all this is Disney’s animatronic figures. They’ve been working on making them more and more lifelike for over fifty years and they still have the uncanny valley thing going. And that’s not even trying for them to be autonomous.
One of their problems, I feel, is that they make them move way too much, with very flamboyant gestures. They look pretty good, though.
Exactly right. Like comparing Whitney Cummings vs her robot:
https://thelaughbutton.com/whitney-cummings-has-a-robot-that-looks-just-like-her-and-its-living-its-best-life
Even with a still photo, you can tell that the robot isn’t human. It looks like a mannequin (or at best, a Kardashian). And when they actually move and speak, the jerky imprecise motion makes the robot look like a creepy reanimated corpse.
No doubt, that’s awful…the stuff of nightmares. And, the robot is pretty creepy, too. ZING!
Haha, I recycled your joke:
Also, it’s hard to tell which one contains more silicone.
Too far?
Frankly, it looks awful. As hard as it is to create a robot on the near side of the uncanny valley, perhaps it’s better to deliberately park them on the far side of the valley. They can still be expressive, but just, you know, be expressive over there.
An emotive robot face that’s uncomfortably deep in the uncanny valley:
An emotive robot face that’s comfortably on the far side of the valley:
You didn’t have to stream. You went on one of the hundreds of sex groups on Usenet and picked a video that sounded good. Then you selected all 48 posts that contained a portion of the video. They were all numbered and not particularly in order. Then you downloaded all of them. Then you decoded all of them then linked all of them. More advanced programs did this for you. Then you played it on another program that was probably different depending on what format the video was, MPG, AVI and a bunch of others. That’s when you discovered it would not run because part 17 was missing. Damn. This all could take a half hour or longer for a 45 second video. But it was worth it.
ASCII art wasn’t just pictures of Snoopy.
No, but we’ve designed 100% of our environment to be compatible with bipedal creatures, about 170 cm tall, and with some fairly standard equipment like hands. A robot expected to do even simple household tasks like unloading the dishwasher will have to match this.
That said, you don’t have to enter uncanny valley territory. It’s only when you try to match expressions, skin tone, etc. that it becomes a problem.
I don’t see why you need humanoid physique to unload a dishwasher. Think of how they lift and set down bowling pins.
We could do this
or this
~Max
I hoped it would go without saying that I meant “without totally revamping your kitchen”. Yes, you can design an industrial dishwashing system that robotically moves the dishes to a specialized storage system. I’m talking about a normal kitchen with a dishwasher and cabinets that store the dishes.
Your first link shows a robot that’s already halfway humanoid, with two arms articulated in a reasonably human fashion. But it’s not tall enough to put the dishes in the cabinet. And probably not delicate enough to handle glassware without making the grabbers more like human hands.
Also, dishwashing was just one example. Even if you could design a specialized dishwasher unloader bot, it wouldn’t be suitable for laundry or dusting or a bunch of other things. I don’t want a dozen specialized household bots, I want one that does all the things. A humanoid bot is pretty much the only choice.
The first video was to show something more along the lines of what you were suggesting, that is, a robot with humanoid features.
The second video was more to show off the method of picking up and putting down dishes on a belt rather than a grasping mechanism. Not so much the huge industrial machine.
I was personally envisioning a kind of forklift where the glasses are picked up by their stems not unlike bowling pins, plus a conveyer belt to stack plates. Would theoretically work with the dishwasher I have in my own home.
~Max
I paint little miniature figures for use in table top war games like Warhammer 40k and for role playing games like Dungeons and Dragons, and, yeah, you’ve really got to use multiple layers if you want them to look natural. This is especially true of flesh and other organic components like cloaks, leather pants, etc., etc. I’ll apply a dark base color, my base color in multiple thin coats, and follow that up with highlights. I’m not that good at it but I’ve seen skilled artists who are able to make some pretty convincing flesh.
Then you don’t want a dishwasher bot, you want a maid-bot a la Rosey (Jetsons).
~Max
I think I mentioned I was talking about a “simple household task” robot. I don’t know that Rosey could handle stairs very well.
They didn’t have stairs, they had those chute things.
Bowling pins come in one shape, which lends itself to easy sorting. And those pins are found in one big flat place that’s easily scooped clean - and then they all go in one other place. My dishwasher has forks, spoons, knives, plates, saucers, bowls, cups, glasses, mugs, spatulas, salad tongs, cheese graters, pots, pans, and cutting boards in it, and those things all go in different arrangements in different places in the kitchen - some of them high, some of them low, some stacked, some not, some in front, some in back. The PR 1 in your video may somehow have the vertical reach to get to the top cabinet shelves (looks like there’s some kind of telescoping mechanism), but it’s working with lobster claws where hands should be. Not much for dexterity.
I suppose the main reason you would need a human-shaped robot is when you need a robot to interact with humans or use human tools/weapons. Otherwise, you just create a purpose-built machine that IS the robot. i.e. you don’t create a humanoid robot just to drive a car. You create a robot in the shape of an automobile.