Technology
What is The uncanny valley?
The uncanny valley is the eerie, unsettling feeling people get from a robot or animation that looks almost — but not quite — human. As realism rises, comfort grows, then suddenly plunges near imperfect human likeness before recovering for the truly lifelike.
See it, don’t just read it.
Watch a 2-minute lesson with voice + animation that explains the uncanny valley.
Key things to understand
- 1Coined by roboticist Masahiro Mori in 1970 to describe a dip in emotional comfort.
- 2Likability climbs with realism, drops sharply at 'almost human,' then rises again for the flawless.
- 3Subtle wrongness — dead eyes, off timing, stiff motion — triggers unease, perhaps a threat or disease instinct.
- 4It's a constant challenge for CGI films, video games, and humanoid robots.
Frequently asked questions
- Why do almost-human faces feel creepy?
- Tiny mismatches in eyes, expression, or motion clash with our finely tuned face perception, signaling that something is subtly 'wrong.'
- How do creators avoid the uncanny valley?
- They either stylize characters to look clearly non-human (like Pixar) or push for flawless realism, avoiding the unsettling middle ground.
- Who discovered the uncanny valley?
- Japanese roboticist Masahiro Mori described it in 1970, and the idea became influential in robotics and computer graphics.