...to really creep me out.

Exhibit A, The Toddler-bot:

This machine could represent numerous advances in anthropomorphic robotics, but geeze. Apparently this is meant to represent a human toddler. I knew the Japanese weren't having many kids, but had no idea that Japanese toddlers were this rare.

According to Wikipedia, the uncanny valley hypothesis states that "as a robot is made more humanlike in its appearance and motion, the emotional response from a human being to the robot will become increasingly positive and empathic, until a point is reached beyond which the response quickly becomes that of strong repulsion. However, as the appearance and motion continue to become less distinguishable from a human being's, the emotional response becomes positive once more and approaches human-to-human empathy levels."

I wouldn't think that this pasty-faced weirdness qualifies as "uncanny." I'm not sure why that thing is so unsettling, but It's not because it's too real.

Uncanny or not - anthropomorphic creepiness explains why the first robots we've accepted into our homes tend to be diminitive toys like Robosapiens or the cute Teddy Ruxpin or completely nonanthropomorphic like the Roomba.

I'd guess that when we do finally get truly helpful anthropomorphic robots, they'll have very stylized faces. They'll also be short in order to be nonthreatening. Being able to reach tall shelves is useful, so some height variability - a telescoping abdomen - might be employed.

UPDATE:

My brother-in-law Lonnie put his finger on why this is so disturbing: "That thing's like a shaved teletubby!"

UPDATE 2:

A still picture just doesn't convey the weirdness of this thing like a video: