gizmodo.com: One of the obvious giveaways that you’re interacting with a robot is their blank dead-eyed stare. The eyes don’t connect with yours the way they would if they were, you know, human. A research team at Disney is trying to fix that using subtle head motions and eye movements that make the robot seem more lifelike—despite it lacking skin and looking like pure, unfiltered, nightmare material.
20 comments:
I understand the want to make robots seem more life-like during interaction - however, this might be a personal thing but I would like to be able to tell robots and humans apart. I’ve watched too many movies and television episodes about artificial robotic life and it’s aid in the destruction of society. Looking at the video of the guy interacting with this faceless robot (yet he’s wearing part of a dress shirt?) really gave me the heebie-jeebies. On a completely different note it is interesting how our awareness of human behavior has become so specific that we notice things like tiny facial movements. It makes sense that Disney has contributed to this endeavor because they could get a lot of use out of these robots. They ask a lot from their employees, and if they were able to create robots that accurately responded to their environment they could have this whole army of Disney cast members that were on the top of their programmed game all the time. Kind of weird.
I wish I could write “no” over and over for this entire comment. Is that acceptable?? Please, I do not want to look at this terrifying thing ever again. Honestly I do not think my opinion would change even if the robot had skin and looked like a person. There is something horrific and foreboding about a robot being able to watch you. It is creepy that they want it to look so humanoid that you can’t really tell it is a robot to begin with. The capacity for serious, long term error when dealing with humanoid artificial intelligence is so much larger than I think people want to admit. Hell, I’m so scared of it that I tell my Alexa thank you every time she answers my questions because I do not want to be on their bad side when the AI finally gets a mind of its own. Like obviously this is incredibly innovative and fancy, but please people, can you not walk humanity right through the door of Robot Apocalypse Inc. It would be greatly appreciated.
My roommate can attest to the fact that as soon as the article opened I was jump-scared by the robot. It is so strange. There is a part of me that thinks this is insanely cool. I think super high-tech animatronics are awesome and I love studying mannerisms of people and the small things that make us human. However, much like Elizabeth and Samantha I am highly unsettled by not being able to tell robots and humans apart. Artificial Intelligence is getting smarter all the time. Also, robots could very easily start taking people's jobs at this point. Reading this in the context of Disney recently laying off thousands of their employees this terrifying and uncomfortable to me. The mad scientist in me is fascinated by how far this can go, but the ludite and science fiction fan in me doesn't want this going any farther. I say please don't give it the ability to walk around, and please don't let it think for itself.
This robot is terrifying there is no other way to say it. There is something unsettling about how it almost looks human but is very clearly not. As people have said in previous comments I would like there to be a distinct line between robots and humans. I personally don't understand the appeal of making them as humanoid as possible. It is simply just horrifying. I think the processes behind making this and all the research is incredible but I personally wish that it had never happened. I think the purpose of robots needs to be considered. What exactly do we want them for? A human replacement? I think that as someone who has read and watched a decent amount of science fiction robots have something that is very scary about them underlying. I think that robots definitely definitely have a purpose in our society and world but exactly what this is needs to be examined before we go any further into creating a robot that looks just like a human.
I am with Sammy 100% the second I read this title it peaked my interest and the second I opened the article I wish I hadn’t. This just a big no thank you for me. It’s way too much for me the fact that they are so determined to make this thing as life like as possible. Like for me there is beauty in the illusion that you have to create I don’t want things to be super ultra realistic it starts to just terrify me. I don’t understand the need I guess. Automation of our everyday life and AI intelligence that helps enhance things like setting the temp in my apt or lights I understand but creating robots simply to look and interact with us in a human like manner I don’t think I will every be on board with. It just feels like its the precursor to every movie about robots taking over as a ridiculous as that sounds.
I always enjoy robots and AI, but I think that is because I am also genuinely afraid of it. Watching the video reminded me a bit of Westworld, because the technicians in the show were working on making the robots seem more lifelike when adding small facial gestures in the beginning of the series. The fact that this robot mimics breathing in its motions is creepy enough to me. Personally, I think there is more comfort in being able to tell the difference between AI and human, and while Disney is not 100% there yet, I think I would be rather uncomfortable in Disney world, for example, and not about to distinguish human staff against robotics. Further, the sensors in the robot that allows it to check for things happening in the environment around it is also incredibly unsettling. I just had a conversation with a neighbor in the parking lot and turned my head from time to time to watch the cars pass by or children playing. It would scare me if I was talking to a robot, and it did the same thing… It would make me wonder if it was a program or code it was following, or if it was really noticing things. Either way, this is definitely nightmare fuel.
Seem more lifelike despite lacking skin? Talk about a juxtaposition... It’s interesting for them to try and make a robot that makes the movements that we as humans make when we’re engaging with each other. The thing is, those movements are often related to our reactions to what is going on. Like the tilt of the head or the widening of the eyes and so on are responses to what we are hearing or what’s happening around us. I’m interested in seeing how they went about programing a robot to “react” to things that haven’t occurred as yet. What may happen is there will be a robot standing in front of you constantly making these weird and unnecessary movements from time to time which is…very robot-like. I really like the idea of having the robot shift it’s gaze when it hears a distance noise. Though slightly creepy it's a smart add on. I’d love to see what all they’ve programmed these to do cause, if done properly, this can be really cool and fun to interact with. Especially for children.
I was expecting a robot that has a lot of facial control and can mimic human expression better, and I was initially disappointed when the robot’s face was more or less a skull with moving eyes and mouth. There are a lot of microexpressions that animators have picked up on in order to deliver more believable characters (like raising eyebrows and narrowing eyes), and I thought that this was about a more advanced physical expression. I was surprised to see that none of that factored into this robot at all; instead the groundbreaking work was representing some subtleties of human behavior. I actually found this robot to be startlingly lifelike. I would guess that (besides putting skin on the skull) the next step is to try to combine detailed facial expressions with this behavioral base. They may run into a real spacial issue when trying to pack more motors into the skull.
This title is very aptly named as that robot is super creepy. I let out some Spanish expletives when I opened the website. Still images and GIFs do not do justice to what that robot can do. However, once I watched the video, and got over how creepy it is, the fine motor control over the slight movements that it was making was rather impressive. Seeing the motors and controls around the eyes is cool, but I wish they had just put a face on the robot. Especially if the point of the demonstration is to show how this new technology makes the robot seem more lifelike then they are really shooting themselves in the foot by letting people see the dark void that is literally behind the eyes. Nonetheless, the idea that we are all constantly moving our bodies in slight subconscious ways and that we never realized we, or the people we’re talking to, are doing it is rather fascinating. This technology will surely be quickly put to use in animatronic interactions. However, I do have a slight concern about what happens when we combine this new technology with ever-improving AIs.
This is probably the coolest thing I have seen in quite some time. This is clearly a very advanced robot that is also packed into a small shape… the human body. Most other “robots” can be small but lack sophistication or are large and used in, typically industrial, workplaces. I like this idea and would be excited to see it around theme parks and such. However, I still don’t think its “life-like.” Or maybe that is the appropriate words because it has life imitations but in a poorer manner. This is probably just me though and I might have another opinion once skin is on and I’m interacting with it in person. I pay special attention to the small details that people exhibit and find that extremely hard to replicate with machinery. There are many muscles in the face for instance and without actual engagement in muscle, the slightest subtle and unconscious movement tells so much more. That’s hard to replicate in a machine face because you even have to take into account the slightest change in pupil dilation to effectively communicate many emotions and facial expressions. This is something that many people learn to tell about their family overtime rather than being able to pick up on from a stranger immediately. Think about your family for this, you can likely tell when your partner or sibling, etc. is rearing to leave or is extremely mad. While the person they are talking to is under the impression that they are happy and willing to stay while no facial changes has occurred. The partner knew that slightest hint of a detail that explained a whole other situation. When robots can do that, is when I will be truly impressed, and extremely scared.
When I first read the title of the article, I was confused. Then, I opened it haha. It is so strange! At first, I did not see the head moving and thought that it had the dead robot stare, but when it had the slight head movement I felt my heart jump. I always thought it was pretty easy to tell robots and humans apart, and though the eyes are realistic and have an "it is definitely watching me"feel, I still can tell it's robot-ness. Though the subtle head motions and eye shifts make it more human-like, I feel as though there will always be something artificial, maybe too perfect that will give it away. I'm sure as technology advances for as they continue to work on this project they may be able to overcome this, and what especially struck me was how they mentioned that "it accurately recreates the subconscious behaviors we rarely catch ourselves doing, but notice when they’re not happening in others". Robots already have the ability to perceive their surroundings, so it is scary to see how this progresses. I think the main difference in telling apart a robot right now is noticing the subconscious behaviors the robot is lacking that humans usually have.
"Buy it, use it, break it, fix it,...Turn it, leave it, stop, format it. Technologic." Is the first thing that I thought of when I saw that image because that robot looks like the grown up version of the robot in Daft Punk's Technologic video. Seeing as I remembered that and haven't seen that video in years, this is certainly something memorable, and I can't tell if it's the dead stare or the teeth that I'll remember more. Anyways, I think this article is cool but can't help think that the areas of focus that are mentioned in the article are the best ways to go regarding trying to get away from dead stares. Something that I have noticed with constant mask wearing is that a lot of emotion and feeling comes from not only our eyes, but the muscles around them that cause wrinkles and other various facial postures. At most from the video, I got inquisitive boredom, but outside of that, I am not sure I would be able to read happiness or other such feelings outside of boredom and just dead stare, which aren't great in trying to not freak people out. I would be interested to see the research done for this though, and how they categorized emotions and feelings into just eye and head movements, because I think that that is an interesting topic. It's still very Five Nights At Freddy's though and man would that add a new level of creepy to those animatronics.
The thought that came straight through my mind was, this looks like nothing other than the sophisticated and intentional uncanny valley. Yes, scientists’ thorough observation of human body and the technology that made this available is truly commendable. Yet, personally, I just do not see the necessity of making humanoid robots. Why would you want the creation of humans to fool human? These kinds of technological developments are blurring the boundary between humans and robots; they are lessening the gap between “what only humans can do but robots cannot.” Who can tell that robots could never perform the mind-moving acting like humans? At this rate, I am concerned that there will be arts generated by robots that would draw more attention (and perhaps more “flawless” since they would be made by precise robots) than those of human artists’, which would not be the scene that any of us would want.
I’m just confused on why this is necessary? Like, go Disney for trying to beat uncanny valley, I guess, but I feel like it’s still going to come off as a robot, and being more ‘lifelike’ is actually going to make it creepier. I’m impressed with the amount of work going into this project, and I think it’s a really interesting combination of psychology, physiology, and technology research, but I just don’t understand the purpose. If I’m looking at an animatronic, I don’t actually really want it looking back at me? I think some of the revulsion here is because it has no face, at the moment, and that’s inherently a little horrifying, but also because even the movements displayed here still come off a bit stiff and robotic, for lack of a better way to phrase it. I think it’s really interesting how good we are at subconsciously reading body language, to the point where we still can’t mimic humans effectively, and even our best CGI work occurs through mapping images onto a detailed recording of someone doing it for real, because it wouldn’t be believable otherwise. Anyway, I think this is creepy and I feel like also unnecessary, but good for the people who have been working on it.
Well, pop off Disney I guess. I'd be lying if I didn't say I thought this was really cool, but it also is beyond creepy. I don't subscribe to the whole "robots will take over the world" or "robots will take all our jobs" theories that many people have thrown around historically when advancements in AI or animatronics have been made, but this article gave me total Terminator vibes. I do think that these kinds of animatronics would greatly enhance the experience one would have at the Disney parks or in entertainment in general. As a technology buff, this also makes me extremely excited for the future of similar technologies because seeing as the ultimate goal for many people in AI and animatronic work is to create products that are either indistinguishable from humans or slightly close to that, this development will be a great help. It was also really interesting to read about some of these subconscious actions that humans make, many that I had never even considered.
I found this article very interesting and I think dinsey is always leading forward in the field of animatronics. I know that they are always trying to improve the experience on the rides and they have coe a very long way since the stiff robots that used to be on the disney rides. I would guess that the animatronic is for a something on one of the rides but I guess if a robot was smart enough they could use that for character meetings instead of a real human. I agree with the author that the robot without the skin is extremely creepy so I wonder that precautions will be taken to make it look like a human but still have all the mechanical features able to wark. Maybe they could even have this progress into things like madame tousos’s wax museum and they can have it be like your meeting a real celebrity instead of just the stiff wax figure.
I am genuinely scared. I never want to see that skinless robot again and yet I also want to look it directly in the eyes. This just makes me wonder if there will ever be a point in my lifetime when I can’t tell a human from an animatronic. With the way things are going, I’m betting that there will be one. That’s crazy how they are building in all of the subtle traits and movements that a human does to make it as realistic as possible. I can’t even begin to imagine all the hours observing different kinds of people, specifically when they are interacting with others. We have conversations with people everyday, although I could never pinpoint every aspect of our body language. This must be so difficult, especially because every single detail has to be perfect for the robot to be believable.
Just reading the title of “Disney Made a Skinless Robot That Can Realistically Stare Directly Into Your Soul” was unnerving enough on its own and so I wanted to read it. The moment I opened the article and saw the first gif of the robot made me feel tempted to throw my computer. It reminds me of seeing that skinless robot head of Chuck E. Cheese. Seriously, that thing is so weird and uncanny-valley looking I don’t know if I’m processing it correctly. I think making robots and animatronics more lifelike is a cool thing to strive for and design, but please for the love of any of the gods give it skin or something. I think I would just simply pass away if this thing actually looked right back into my eyes. I don't know, I think there’s something endearing about keeping robots looking like robots rather than trying to make them off-brand humans. Even the animatronic people they have already at Disney are a little weird. Anyways, I think it would be interesting to see how far they can get with things like this, but I kinda hope it doesn’t become super common.
No thank you! I am deeply uncomfortable with a live person trying to stare into my soul, and I think I am even more uncomfortable with a robot staring into my soul. I think that the desire to see how much more realistic they can make robots its really kind of concerning. Maybe it is because I have watched RoboCop too many times, but I think that keeping a clear line between the appearance and roles of human and robot is probably a good idea. That being said, I am very impressed with the ability of these technicians to not only analyze and recreate minute human behaviors so accurately, but also the way that they have given the robot the ability to sense and react to their environment. I do have to say the whole lack of human features does really break the illusion they seem to be going for. Altogether, I’m good not ever interacting with one of these, but the work is impressive.
"You were so concerned whether you could do something, that you never stopped to ask yourself whether you should". I am all about advancing robotics and technology, and realistic robotics can do so much outside of the entertainment industry. Prosthetics and other borderline cyborg technology can have a major impact on those who need those devices, and having realistic environment-sensing control systems will do wonders in the medical world. The explosion of machine learning and AI technology has only fueled this fire drastically, and points to exponential growth in understanding realistic robotics. But this is not the medical world. In our entertainment world, I do have to ask where we need to stop, and at what point is all this necessary? Are we that desperate not to talk to (or god forbid HIRE) an actual real life human being? I'm all for science and advancing technology, and the reality is someone else would develop this technology at some point anyway, but seeing it come from an entertainment company is a bit strange.
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