uncanny valley

The Mystery of Embodiment

This is cool. Check out this Times story about 'body-swapping' - basically using sensory input to fool the mind into thinking that it inhabits a different body. This is something that Hiroshi Ishiguro said they'd found when experimenting with his robotic double, the Geminoid. Whoever controlled it could 'feel' a sensation of being touched whenever the robot was touched, even though the robot was some distance away. More on that at my main site.

Read. Be amazed. And let the philosophical wonderings commence.

Mirror Neurons & The Uncanny Valley

...'I don't know what I'd do without you.'

'Mirror neuronal arrays. Synthesised endocrine system. You can't help but feel that way. Nor can I.'

She frowned at him.

'They made us just for each other,' he shrugged, 'and we're caught in an existential riddle.'

*    *    *

The relationship between Alex and Kim in Exilium is partly explained through their inbuilt 'mirror neuronal arrays'. Kim's experience of empathy also comes to down to this aspect of her neural architecture. The wonderful robots.net website features a link to a paper (PDF format) by Dr. John R. Skoyles, explaining that in humans mirror neurons help 'blur the physical boundaries between ourselves and others'.

It's a fascinating area, with much that is relevant to robotics. Mirror neurons may even explain some elements of the uncanny valley phenomenon, why inexpressive 'mask-like' faces are so off-putting to us. It's not just that robots will need to experience empathy towards us and each other, but that they will need human-like behaviours if we are to feel comfortable in their presence.