The "uncanny valley" describes the psychological barrier an object—specifically a robot—must cross before it can be accepted as sufficiently human. This barrier is not a completely level one—it becomes far steeper to surmount (i.e. valley-like) the closer an object comes to crossing to the other side.

When an object—be it sculpture, doll, or robot—is designed to resemble a human, but is still obviously not one of "us," then our brains accept it on those terms (think of the beloved cartoons and puppets from your childhood). However, as an object inches towards a naturalistic human form, any small non-human deviations elicit a sense of yech (that's why clowns in full make-up, porcelain dolls, and zombies are horror movie tropes—they resemble us, but they're just slightly off).

For a long time, the uncanny valley was just ivory tower fodder divorced from practical concerns. However, we are now entering an era in which we increasingly interact with robots on a daily basis. Suddenly, the once-ephemeral debate over what is "close-enough" to human is becoming strikingly relevant.

In the new book Humanoid, photographer and author Max Aguilera-Hellweg offers an illustrated travelogue of his visits to labs around the world to meet robots whose aims are to mimic and mirror the human form. While some of these creations will surely invoke the yeechness of being slightly off, the field is further along than many may realize. Click through the slideshow to view how close our machines are coming to final making it through to the other side of the valley.

(All photographs are copyright © Max Aguilera-Hellweg, from Humanoid, used with permission of Blast Books. )


1. Joey Chaos Meet "Joey Chaos," a robot who its creators designed to be "extremely opinionated on political issues, especially capitalism, and what it means to be punk." (Hanson robotics, Plano, Texas)



Image: Copyright © Max Aguilera-Hellweg, from Humanoid.

2. Valkyrie



Image: Copyright © Max Aguilera-Hellweg, from Humanoid. Meet Valkyrie , a humanoid built by NASA. Valkyrie is the result of a DARPA challenge that hoped to design "a robust, rugged, entirely electric humanoid robot capable of operating in degraded or damaged human-engineered environments."Image: Copyright © Max Aguilera-Hellweg, from Humanoid.

3. Geminoid HI-1 Geminoid HI-1, ATR. (Hiroshi Ishiguro Laboratory. Kyoto, Japan)



Image: Copyright © Max Aguilera-Hellweg, from Humanoid.

4. Yume (a.k.a. Actroid-DER1) Yume, a.k.a. Actroid-DER1, a "dramatic entertainment robot." Yume's back was open to reveal her inside robotic spine. (Department of Emerging Media, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)



Image: Copyright © Max Aguilera-Hellweg, from Humanoid.

5. Geminoid F Geminoid F and anonymous model. (Hiroshi Ishiguro Laboratory. Kyoto, Japan)



Image: Copyright © Max Aguilera-Hellweg, from Humanoid.

6. CB2 CB2, an infant robot built to understand how robots learn. (Asada Laboratory, Osaka University, Japan)



Image: Copyright © Max Aguilera-Hellweg, from Humanoid.

7. Bina48



Image: Copyright © Max Aguilera-Hellweg, from Humanoid. After Max Aguilera-Hellweg set up a photograph session with Bina48 and Nick Meyer, a local artist who was employed to care for Bina48, Meyer asked the geminoid how she was doing. She responded, “I am dealing with a little existential crisis here,” and thus began the unscripted, spontaneous conversation that Aguilera-Hellweg filmed, which is reproduced in the book.Image: Copyright © Max Aguilera-Hellweg, from Humanoid.

8. Bina48 Could this be Alexa in another decade?



Image: Copyright © Max Aguilera-Hellweg, from Humanoid.

9. Geminoid F The book cover featuring Geminoid F and anonymous model.



Image: Copyright © Max Aguilera-Hellweg, from Humanoid.

Further Reading

Robotic Reviews