CAMELOT Theatrical Special Effects

This is not an April Fool's Day joke, despite the date, nor is it a goatse or cheap sound gag (you can leave your speakers on, trust me.) Nonetheless, it scared the crap out of me at first. Let me explain why.

You may recall, a couple of years ago, I blogged about Masahiro Mori, the Japanese roboticist who published "Bukimi No Tani" (English title: The Uncanny Valley) in Energy. The article forwarded the hypothesis that as robots become more humanlike they appear more familiar until a point is reached at which subtle imperfections of appearance make them look downright creepy. The observation lead Mori to the belief that robot builders should not attempt to make their creations overly lifelike in appearance and motion.

The people who created this, possibly either Japanese or Brazilian, did a marvelous job. The girl will track your cursor as you move it around until she loses interest in a few seconds and returns to simply being curious, amused and, well, almost alive for godssake! That, for me, is when she simply becomes too lifelike and falls into the Uncanny Valley. Take a look. You've been warned.

http://www.motionportrait.com/about/TIminoriHair.swf

posted by C. J. # 4:35 PM