Robots looking like animals

Gavain

Banded Mongoose
I want to build a few robots that look like animals including fur/scales/feathers. Is there any route other than going for the full android approach. I am really just looking for a coating of the appropriate material. I am happy to make stuff up and was considering using the Camoflage (Visible) coating as a model with higher levels needed to mimic more complicated coverings. Skin/scales > fur > feathers
 
How close to the uncanny valley do you want to get?
Realistic movements?
A couple of applications of a cosplay kit from CSC should get the padding and fur suit, but you're probably going to want at least a basic android to make it use its head like an animal.
 
I guess it depends on how realistic you want them to be. Combining the taxidermist and robots specialties would probably cost no more than visual camouflage, but you wouldn't be fooling anyone. Especially not someone with a good sense of smell. So if you went with visual, auditory, and olfactory camouflage, it might pass the... sniff test? But the intent is to go the Android or Biological Robot route if you want something to emulate an animal rather than 'be inspired by' a critter.
 
How close to the uncanny valley do you want to get?
Just curious, does the uncanny valley happen with animals? Not saying it does or does not, rather I don't know. I have only ever read about it for humans so I never thought about it.

If a robotic dog looks and acts too much like a real dog, do we stop liking it and dislike it the same way as we do with human robots?

This is an interesting thought I had not seen addressed before.
 
You tell me.
guy in a dog suit.png

Guy in a dog suit.

Like with a human approximation, you avoid the valley by including cartoonish features, or some similarly telling indicator that it isn't trying to be "real."
 
You tell me.
View attachment 3049

Guy in a dog suit.

Like with a human approximation, you avoid the valley by including cartoonish features, or some similarly telling indicator that it isn't trying to be "real."
I was not asking about a human in a fake dog suit. I was trying to express real interest in the idea shared. Robotic animals maybe tripping the uncanny valley. I never had thought about the uncanny valley with animals.

Sadly, the image looks more like a stuffed animal from a Toys-R-Us. So no, this image does not bother me. But I would love to see a robotic dog that is so close to a real one, but misses just a little, and see how I react.
 
You asked about a fake animal. If you had not previously seen the meme, or the caption, you would experience the uncanny valley.
That is what it looks like because it sort of moves like a dog when not a still image.
Now imagine coming up behind that, seeing it move in a way unlike an animatronic, and then the head lifts an looks at you.
This was just the easiest example to find. There are others. Simply, the uncanny valley exists for any living thing that we are very familiar with.
 
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You asked about a fake animal. If you had not previously seen the meme, or the caption, you would experience the uncanny valley.
That is what it looks like because it sort of moves like a dog when not a still image.
I would like to see the video, I expect you are right, I might experience the uncanny valley then. :)
 
or the body painting of animals, which frequently are a bit cartoony, sometimes not, and then the models get up.

As to the video, the one I saw was so-so. But it was a convenient proof of concept.
And really, no need to add views to a mentally ill guy who identifies as a four legged animal.
 
You could make it look like an alien animal - lord only knows what they look like anyway :) Can't spot it's fake if you have never seen a real one.

Also some real animals look like fakes and some look artificial (especially insects).

Weird

BBC Program Spy In The Wild made animal robots to infiltrate animal populations to film them from within. Most animals didn't notice (even when bits started falling off them). They eyes were often cameras so they looked wrong to us, but even when filmed from behind they looked "dead" somehow. Future tech might eliminate that issue.

I imagine something with scales or armour plates (e.g. pangolin) will be easier to fake than something with fur. Wigs require constant attention to top them looking fake. A whole body wig would be a nightmare.

Double standard, a man in a dog suit is mentally ill, Michelle Pfeiffer in a cat suit and it all Hubba Hubba :)
 
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Double standard, a man in a dog suit is mentally ill, Michelle Pfeiffer in a cat suit and it all Hubba Hubba :)
Michelle was paid to play a character and went home afterwards.
The guy expects you to respect his pronouns of <bark> and good boy, or he'll bite you.
 
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We know that a lot of those reports are agenda driven, like the cat litter box in schools.

I've never met anyone, personally, who acted that way, but know enough about human psychology that it's probable but rare.
 
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