| The Euphonia | |
|---|---|
| |
|
Origin |
Joseph Faber |
|
Year of Creation |
1820s - 40s |
|
Type |
Speech Automaton |
|
Function |
Repeats spoken words through mechanical vocal system |
|
Location |
|
|
Collected by |
Warehouse 12 |
|
Retrieval |
June 12, 1861 |
|
Usage Period |
1950s-60s |
| [Source] | |
Origin[]
Coined in 1970 by robotics researcher Masahiro Mori, uncanny valley measures how well a person enjoys something human-like. Cute toy robots with expressive eyes or small bodies garnered high on likeability. The trend continues until it dips when a person's entire physical likeness is copied, such as advanced androids or CGI wizardry. People freak out when seeing something that wears the face of a person, but has enough incorrect (or too correct) tics to be alien.
Joseph Faber's creation certainly fits the criteria of creepy. In redux, all he built was a sophisticated text reader and instrument player. With one tiny difference - there was a rubber woman's face mounted on it. All the bellows and keys opened her mouth to speak in any language or tone. Even Joseph Henry of the Smithsonian thought there was some use for it in the field of speech communication. But alas it was an aesthetic dud. Blank eyes and mechanical wheezing made the few London spectators grimace at its expressionless torment.
Effects[]
Perfectly recites back any sounds, albeit at a slower and garbled pace. Additional levers have been added to recreate consonants beyond its originally programed languages. Saying one's name with a recipient will relay a message for later party if they have the gall to approach the hodgepodge. For that very reason, Jack and Rebecca would occasionally use it to arrange secret trysts out of sight from their boss.