> Think about it, have YOU ever seen it? We've all seen videos, but no real life robots in the uncanny valley.

Isn't that kinda like saying:

Think about it, have YOU ever seen atomic bombs? We've all seen videos, but no real life atomic bombs. They're not real!

> Think about it, have YOU ever seen it?

Uh, yes? Hiroshi Ishiguro's creepy robot double in the original article, just for starters.

> We've all seen videos, but no real life robots in the uncanny valley.

Wait, what? Are you saying that a thing that looks creepy in videos is no indication that the same thing will look creepy in real life? I don't understand.

That sounds a lot like saying that, I dunno, coulrophobia (the fear of clowns) isn't real, because it's never been observed in a laboratory setting. The specific theories about how the uncanny valley functions and what it says about human psychology may be bunk, but the basic idea--that things that look almost but not quite human can come off as very creepy--is borne out by countless humans' personal experiences.

The uncanny valley was (I think) first observed in graphical rendering for movies and games, and has since been generalized to many artificial constructs that approach but don't quite hit the real thing they are attempting to mimic. It absolutely is real, but may not always apply.