Does the Uncanny Valley explain Elmo?

Originally published at: https://menino.com/wp/2008/04/does-the-uncanny-valley-explain-elmo/

So the kid is deathly afraid of his Tickle-Me Elmo Extreme (a.k.a. the TMX). It’s like the standard Elmo, except he flops around laughing his butt off, and then eventually stands himself up again. A real-life muppet version of the ROFLMAO expression.

While thinking about his crazy fear of TMX, I thought about the Uncanny Valley hypothesis. I’m not sure if it fits in this case or not — Elmo isn’t very human-like, except when he’s rolling around laughing. On the other hand, the kid has no problem with Elmo at all if he just sits there and doesn’t laugh.