You might think that the more a robot or virtual person resembles a real human, the more comfortable we would be with them. But oddly, that’s not entirely true. As robots and virtual people get closer to being lifelike, we do tend to like them more — up to a point. A cute robot with big, round eyes and a happy smile is far more endearing than one that looks like a microwave oven on wheels.
However, somewhere along the road to realism, things start to change. As robots get very close to being lifelike but aren’t quite there, they begin to give humans the creeps. The strange place where this effect occurs is called the uncanny valley, and getting past it is a major challenge for roboticists and developers of digital people.
