On Wednesday, Boston Dynamics announced the new version of its Atlas robot with a characteristically unsettling video.
Boston Dynamics is doing exciting things with technology!
I do, however, have a novel suggestion for Boston Dynamics: give the robot hair.
“It would be much worse because our expectations of human behavior would be even stronger.” But what about giving Atlas hair?
In his research about nonhuman animals and the uncanny valley, he found that people still find synthetic creatures uncanny, but the feeling is more acute when it comes to human-like robots.
MacDorman emphasized that what really makes Atlas creepy is not the hair, or lack thereof, but the inhuman movement.
That feeling of uncanniness, MacDorman told me, “is much more pronounced for moving objects.” The academic literature on hairy robots is sadly limited — and the results are mixed.
In a paper published in 2019, scientists compared people’s reactions to robots with plastic exteriors, wooden exteriors, and fur exteriors.
Boston Dynamics released a distinctly unsettling video on Wednesday to introduce the upgraded Atlas robot. In it, a humanoid android raises itself from the ground by bending its legs backward. It then completely rotates, resembling Linda Blair from The Exorcist, with its head. The video is undoubtedly unsettling.
The new, fully electric Atlas robot, according to a press release from the company, can perform tasks more effectively when it is not “constrained by a human range of motion,” which is why it was decided to make it move like an undead Cirque du Soleil performer. “This is fine with me! Boston Dynamics is utilizing technology in really interesting ways!
Give the robot hair, though, is a creative suggestion I have for Boston Dynamics. Rewatch the video, but try to picture Mx this time. Atlas’s mane is thick and flowing. Are you feeling better now that you know?
Now, hit the play button once more, but this time, visualize the robot sporting a robust coat of vibrant fur, a la Furby. Is there a greater sense of relaxation in you?
Because “it moves in a way that violates all human expectations,” robots like the Atlas are perceived as unsettling by people, according to Karl MacDorman, associate dean at Indiana University’s Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering and expert on the uncanny valley. “.
MacDorman stated, “Imagine the same robot, but you put human skin on it.”. It would be significantly worse since we would have higher expectations for how people should behave. “.
Giving Atlas hair, though, would be rather incongruous for this robot, as most people wouldn’t expect a human to be covered in fur unless they were a caveman, according to MacDorman. It might be preferable to skin, but it would certainly make it more unsettling. “.
How about a hair-covered ape android? According to MacDorman, “it would probably be less disturbing if you could have an ape-like robot that is moving around in strange ways.”. People still find synthetic creatures uncanny, but the feeling is stronger when it comes to humanoid robots, according to his research on nonhuman animals and the uncanny valley.
MacDorman emphasized that Atlas’s inhuman movement, not its hair—or lack thereof—is what really gives it a creepy vibe. The uncanny valley theory was developed by scientist Masahiro Mori, who produced two distinct uncanny valley graphs: one for stationary objects and another for moving objects. MacDorman informed me that this uncanny feeling “is much more pronounced for moving objects.”. “.
Although there is a dearth of scholarly research on hairy robots, what is available is uneven. Researchers examined how humans responded to robots with fur, wooden, and plastic exteriors in a paper that was published in 2019. Researchers discovered that while “people did not rate the three robots differently in terms of competence or discomfort,” “people rated the plastic robot significantly lower on perceived warmth as compared to the wooden and furry robots.”. “.
A 2022 study titled “Designing Man’s New Best Friend: Enhancing Human-Robot Dog Interaction through Dog-Like Framing and Appearance” revealed that Boston Dynamics’ furless dog-like robot garnered praise for its impressive dancing skills on the internet, but when it was used for street surveillance in New York, it worried the locals who felt uneasy about these robotic beings. “.
The researchers had 29 participants play with Sony’s Aibo robot dog to see if fur would have made a difference. Aibo’s fur “inhibited social reactions like smiling and laughing when Aibo was framed as a puppy,” they discovered with surprise after giving it to him.
A plausible explanation could be that the Aibo’s fur suit only covered a portion of its body. Although subjective reports did not indicate it, this might have had a somewhat “uncanine” effect.
Had the researchers simply inquired, I could have imparted a lesson that applies to robotics as well as numerous other aspects of life: mediocre solutions, such as robot dogs with fur, are insufficient to elicit positive social reactions like grinning and laughing.
No, robot designers must embrace the fact that hair sells, and the more the better, as the creative industry has long understood, if they hope to elicit affinities rather than disgust with their creations. For evidence, consider the most adored monster of the past ten years:.
