“In the corner, the robot’s head swung up sharply, but then wobbled about imperceptibly. It pulled itself up to is feet as if it was about five pounds heavier than it actually was, and made what an outside observer would have thought was a heroic effort to cross the room.
It stopped in front of Trillian.
“I think you ought to know I’m feeling very depressed.” It said. Its voice was low and hopeless.
“Well,” said Trillian in a bright compassionate tone, “here’s something to occupy you and keep your mind off things.”
“It won’t work,” droned Marvin, “I have an exceptionally large mind.” (Adams, 90)

As mentioned in the introduction to the uncanny valley graph, it is divided into three distinct sections: the initial rise of empathy towards human-behaving but not human-looking entities, the quick fall into the valley of almost-human beings, and then the recovering rise into robots that are indistinguishable from human. In this section the first zone will be discussed, using robot examples ranging from non-human in form all the way up to the edge of positive human empathy to their human-like but not too-human form.

The first and most non-human robot example is the Automated Vacuum; a squat, rounded robot who zips silently around homes, vacuuming the floors and bouncing off walls in a mindless cycle. As far as human behaviour goes, it mimics vaguely human cleaning actions, and on an empathy scale it scores points for its adorable shape and useful efficiency. As a robot it is functional and cute, but as a human it is far from realistic, and receives only minimal empathy. Close to this robot on this scale is the helpful food/mail delivery robot of “Flight of the Navigator”, a mid-sized robot that goes by the name of R.A.L.F, aka, Robotic Assistant Labor Facilitator. Stylized with a visible eye shapes, head and mouth, this helpful trolley delivers food on the NASA research base. Empathy level is again minimal, but still existent, as this little helper aids the main character, David, in escaping his room, as well as acting as a side-kick for the friendly intern, Carolyn, who uses him to help with her duties on the base. These robots are not loved at the level of a family pet, but they are still regarded with affection for their useful and loyal personalities.

Now that the lowest levels of robot/human empathy have been established (ignoring of course the lowest zero empathy objects like pencil sharpeners or electric toothbrushes), the next level of empathy is devoted to robots that, though still not resembling humans and performing only the most basic of tasks, are gifted with the ability to communicate (in some fashion) and therefore give the impression that they can convey feelings. The robots that will be used in this stage are “Star Wars”’s R2D2, Tezuka’s “Metropolis”’s Fifi, and “Transformer”’s Bumble Bee . These three robots, though very different in scale, skills or behaviours, are all similar on one fashion. They can communicate, but only in somewhat cryptic mechanical ways. In the case of R2D2 and Fifi, their only mode of speech is that of beeps and whistles, and in Bumble Bee’s case, he can only use music and radio broadcasts. In all three cases, this speech impediment allows the humans interacting with the robots to understand them better, while at the same time it adds an element of comic empathy, as they are forced to use bleeps, ironic lyrics and tones to portray humour, sadness, frustration or other emotions. This adorable element allows these characters to transcend their obvious robotic features and ingratiate themselves into the hearts of their audience; they are reacted to in the same way as cute children, unable to properly “use their words” but lovable regardless.

The next level of loveable robot begins to rise higher on the empathy scale by gaining both the ability to speak, and by taking on progressively more and more human features. Where Fifi, R2D2 and Bumble bee are a walking trash can, a cylinder with a rotating head, and a camero, respectively, the robots I will discuss here are much more human in form as well as their ability to communicate. Marvin from “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”, C3P0 from “Star Wars”, Hel from Fritz Lang’s “Metropolis”, the NS4 from “I, Robot”, 803-D-RP-DM from Tezuka’s “Metropolis” and Andrew Martin from “Bicentennial Man” are all examples of robots that are very humanoid in shape, and are able to speak fluently, but are still possessing of a distinctly robotic appearance. These robots score highly on the empathy scale as they possess many human characteristics and motions, and their ability to express themselves helps us to love them all the more. They manage to maintain their position outside of the uncanny valley due to their appearance, as in all cases, their human resemblance ends at the skin; they are visibly constructed of metal and plastics. They have visible eyes, mouth, arms, legs and other features, but they are easily distinguished as robots in their shining white, golden, plastic or steel finishes. Lastly, as the highest empathy receiving robots on the scale, the other fact that propels them above the previous machines is their ability to portray at least some semblance of emotion. Marvin is constantly depressed, C3P0 always worried, Hel is narcissistic and domineering, the NS4s are caring and courteous, 803-D-RP-DM is reliable, steadfast and self-sacrificing, and Andrew is seeking to become more human, and at one point actually falls in love.

However, before beginning the descent into the uncanny valley, one more topic on this end of the curve should be mentioned. Though not robots, animated characters in film are an ever-increasing example of the lessons of the uncanny valley, as 3D animation is used more and more in attempts to duplicate human action. Like robots, they are stand-ins for humans, and in this way can be interpreted in the same way regarding empathy or lack thereof. As this will be discussed in the valley section in more depth, what should be mentioned here are some examples of animated characters in film that fall short of the uncanny and sit, like the robots thus far discussed, safely on the edge of a human's positive empathy for non-human beings. The animation styles and characters within the films "Renaissance", "A Scanner Darkly" and "The Incredibles" are three examples of high-tech animation techniques that are un-realistic, but still allow the viewer to maintain a level of empathy with their characters, despite their obvious cartoon natures. In Renaissance, motion capture techniques and highly stylized black and white rendering were used throughout the film, as characters are simplified into a collection of shadows, clothing and minimal facial features. If true realistic rendering had been attempted, the effect would have taken away from the story, whereas the technique that was used, though abstracting from reality, is unrealistic enough that the viewer fills in the blanks and better identifies with the characters. The same is true with A Scanner Darkly, where the rotoscoping technique creates an effect that, though slightly disquieting, sits right on the edge of the uncanny by not attempting to be too-real or perfect. Lastly, in The Incredibles, a cartooning of the characters was attempted, emphasizing features and creating cartoon-like people instead of trying for photo-realism that would, in the end, distract from the viewers ability to identify with the characters (this will be further talked about in regards to “The Polar Express” in the next section). Empathy levels are maintained within these imperfect renderings of human characters, instead of making an attempt at perfection but just missing photorealism, forcing the viewer to focus on the rendering flaws instead of the story.

Now that you are familiar with the first zone of the uncanny valley graph, you can continue onwards to the part 2 and part 3 sections by clicking on the links within the graph below.