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WorldWeird: I want a creepy/cute robot dog like this one

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      CommentAuthorCOOP
    • CommentTimeMay 24th 2010
     (8289.1)
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      CommentAuthorgroundxero
    • CommentTimeMay 24th 2010
     (8289.2)
    There's something unsettling about the way this thing moves.
    • CommentAuthoricelandbob
    • CommentTimeMay 24th 2010
     (8289.3)
    looks less like a dog than some horrible cyborg beetle.....
    • CommentAuthor256
    • CommentTimeMay 24th 2010
     (8289.4)
    Have noticed that a lot of the reactions to this and to BigDog (and that human-walking bot from Boston Dynamics) mention the creepyness. Could this be a different sort of instance of the uncanny valley effect? Something that comes close enough to looking alive that it messes with the aliveness detection.
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      CommentAuthorchris g
    • CommentTimeMay 24th 2010
     (8289.5)
    looks smarter than that skateboard they sent to Mars!
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      CommentAuthorgroundxero
    • CommentTimeMay 24th 2010
     (8289.6)
    @256

    When the 'BigDog' regains it's balance after being kicked, that was a little disturbing. I felt we always had an advantage over robots being much more nimble and steady on our feet, but it seems robotics is quickly catching up with biology. But I suppose that was inevitable.
    • CommentAuthorArgos
    • CommentTimeMay 24th 2010
     (8289.7)
    ahhh! It's totally creepy and totally cute. I couldn't help but giggle during that video, I want one too now
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      CommentAuthorFinagle
    • CommentTimeMay 31st 2010
     (8289.8)
    The thing that is unsettling about the robots along these lines is that they seem to be *trying*. A Mars Rover doesn't stumble and recover; its movements are smooth and deliberate. It looks like a regular RC toy.

    The Big Dog looks like it is expending effort, that it is purposeful and trying to recover itself. This gives the impression that it is self-directed, like us. It is the Little Engine that Could, without the anthropomorphic face. That's both sympathetic and creepy at once.
  9.  (8289.9)
    Oh, it's lovely! @@ I don't really find it creepy, just incredibly startling whenever I remember that it's not biological. I hope something like this ends up being the next Mars rover (lol, rover).
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      CommentAuthorFauxhammer
    • CommentTimeMay 31st 2010
     (8289.10)
    @256 For whatever reason, the footage of Big Dog getting kicked pushed the same buttons for me as seeing an actual biological beast getting pushed. I also get that during those videos of people tormenting those robot sauropod toys from a few years back. I don't know why that's the case.
  11.  (8289.11)
    @Fauxhammer

    There's an ongoing study on the emotional reaction to such things as computer generated characters and androids. He writes...

    Masahiro Mori proposed a relation between human likeness and shinwakan, which may be roughly translated as rapport or comfort level: more human-looking robots are perceived as more agreeable until we get to robots that look so nearly human that subtle flaws make them look creepy. This dip in their evaluation is the uncanny valley. The valley, Mori argued, would be deepened by movement. The term uncanny valley is now commonly applied to animated characters in films and video games.




    I definitely had a reaction to the kick-down also, likening it animal abuse. This sort of explained it for me.
  12.  (8289.12)
    I like how it has a handle.
    BigDog is something I find creepy but the Little one's sorta cute. In a buggish way.
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      CommentAuthorsseloske
    • CommentTimeMay 31st 2010
     (8289.13)
    Needs googly eyes.
  14.  (8289.14)
    That thing is so creepy. I wouldn't want one scurrying around my apartment at night. ech!
    The BIGDOG is a little less creepy, but only because it looks like it was assembled with CONSTRUX.

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