Masahiro Mori

Masahiro Mori (森 政弘, Mori Masahiro; 1927 – 12 January 2025) was a Japanese engineer who built a lot of robots. He and his students built Honda’s robot called Asimo.

The Uncanny Valley

Masahiro Mori, based on Freud’s ideas about The Uncanny came up with the idea of The Uncanny Valley which is that the more robots look like people, the more the small differences will make them look creepy.

Thoughts on Religion

In 1974, Mori wrote a book about why he believed it was possible for robots to become Buddhas.

Death

Mori died on 12 January 2025, at the age of 97.

References

  1. ↑ "MAN AND MACHINE: Robot gladiators give their makers an emotional charge". Archived from the original on 12 April 2004.
  2. ↑ 森政弘さん死去　東京工業大名誉教授・ロボット工学 Archived 2025-01-21 at the Wayback Machine (in Japanese)