There is an article in this month's Smithsonian magazine about robotics and the issues with what they can do, and the problems people have when robots look too human. This is a good article for those interested in robotics or in the numerous robotics projects currently taking place.

The article also talks about the "uncanny valley," where a machine looks just human enough to be disturbing. This has been studied quite thoroughly and seems to be independent of culture and age.

Even in this mundane example of a robot that focuses on helping people loose weight, the reviewer thought it was a bit "creepy".

Business seems to not have much of a problem with this in our "robotic interactions" since most of those are limited to using IVR systems (and we know about their limits.).  As of right now, we are developing more sophisticated kiosks and more powerful telepresence techniques.

With the large processing engines capable of understanding speech (like Microsoft does with the mobile implementation of live search), it means greater access to data and a wider range of contextual understanding. This is one of the areas that should advance rapidly after the economic downturn. It is also an area where the interaction could creep into the uncanny valley, even if there is no physical presence.

Charlie Bess
EDS' Next Big Thing Blog