Would lip-synching make androids seem less creepy?

I smiled when I first saw the robot Pepper. Its small mouth and big black eyes gave it a bit of that cute puppy look. But the more humanlike androids Sophia and Ameca struck me quite differently. Though impressively realistic, they creeped me out. This kind of unease is a common reaction to robots that look too close to human. But one team of engineers may have found a way to overcome it: Make humanoids that lip-synch.

The discomfort triggered by some humanlike robots is called the “Uncanny Valley.” The name refers to the fact that we tend to become more comfortable with robots as they become more humanlike — but only up to a point. Get too close to the real thing, and our comfort with androids sharply drops off. We may suddenly feel unsettled or even repulsed by them instead.

For instance, Pepper, which l...