Realistic Robots are Scary

As many other people on youtube.com have mentioned, this is one of the creepiest robots I’ve ever seen.  Something about it is just plain disturbing.  It looks like two guys crouched over with interlocked arms doing rythmic stepping.

And although the stabilization of that robot is truly amazing, I don’t really see any advantage over a simple tracked vehicle.  In fact, a tracked vehicle is much less likely to get stuck in the mud.

<— Topo is not scary.  Remember him?  The 80s robot friend of the future.  Now highly collectible!

I’ve read that there are people who document and study this phenomenon… that robots get more and more scary as they gain realistic human qualities.  I’m pretty sure that it was the movie Polar Express that got me thinking about this.  I remember that some reviewers pointed out that the CGI characters in that movie were a bit “too lifelike” and that this made them kind of creepy.

Personally I find the Honda Asimo style of robot to NOT be creepy at all, even though it has amazingly fluid and lifelike movements.  This is probably because the robot still looks like a robot.  They don’t attempt to make it look human… except in this one, strange, creepy instance.

And finally, here’s a creepy robot that looks nothing like a human.