Cutting around the Uncanny Valley with Tofu

[andygates]

Tofu is a cute robot.  All squashy, bouncy, fluffy stuff with big OLED eyes and exaggerated cartoony movements.  I can really see something this goofy hooked into the house grid bouncing up and down saying "Good evening, JF!" and squashing down all shaky when someone the grid doesn't recognize is at the door.  Cartoons take a route around the uncanny valley without sacrificing identifiable loveability.  Watch the video.

Comments

[n-decisive.livejournal.com]

I want to see it dance. I would faint from cute if only it would dance.

[andygates.livejournal.com]

Amusing design diversion: some of the bomb-clearance bots are getting warmly accepted by their units, over in that ill-advised land war in Asia [tm]. The units are pressuring the robot pool to fix, not replace them when they get blown up, they give 'em names and painted-on decorations. "They blew up Sparky again, dammit, we gave him a Purple Heart after the Pool put his legs back on."

I've heard unsubstantiated rumours of bots getting painted versions of the squad tattoo, too.

These aren't people-shaped or toon-shaped, they're tracks-n-arms shaped, but armed forces cameraderie has little to do with how cute you are and more to do with getting stuck in.

The human look is a design loser, IMO, because we're so exquisitely sensitive to wrongness -- whether it's loonies, disease or the fey, not-quite-human has a brainstem wiring against it. Why waste effort fighting that when we can have Butler Badger toonishly fetching drinks instead?

[ravenbait.livejournal.com]

Again: another reason why I DON'T like the "normal" looking prosthetic eye.

It's just looks Wrong.