UW-Madison Science Narratives: Recent Episodes
UW-Madison
Stories. Science. Secrets. Learn what happens behind the scenes at one of the biggest research universities in the world.
UW-Madison roboticists say that the more human a robot looks, the deeper our sense of unease, which they call the "uncanny valley."
To actually be helpful to humans, scientists need to teach robots to move like humans… How hard can it be?
Humans have a special relationship with robots, but where is it going? What does our future look like with our mechanical counterparts? Will we live in a world where they work alongside us accomplishing human tasks, or is that science fiction?
When you’re having a conversation, where do you look? How long do you hold eye contact? How often do you look away? Human behaviors are hard to map, let alone replicate. In this episode, we explore the nuances of human interaction and see what happens when we try to program robots to replicate human behaviors.