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Humans Show Racial Bias Towards Robots of Different Colors: Study

posted by mrpg on Saturday July 21 2018, @10:46AM   Printer-friendly
from the obviously dept.

MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for AndyTheAbsurd

The majority of robots are white. Do a Google image search for "robot" and see for yourself: The whiteness is overwhelming. There are some understandable reasons for this; for example, when we asked several different companies why their social home robots were white, the answer was simply because white most conveniently fits in with other home decor.

But a new study suggests that the color white can also be a social cue that results in a perception of race, especially if it's presented in an anthropomorphic context, such as being the color of the outer shell of a humanoid robot. In addition, the same issue applies to robots that are black in color, according to the study. The findings suggest that people perceive robots with anthropomorphic features to have race, and as a result, the same race-related prejudices that humans experience extend to robots.

Source: Humans Show Racial Bias Towards Robots of Different Colors: Study

Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 2) by HiThere on Saturday July 21 2018, @05:42PM (2 children)

    by HiThere (866) Subscriber Badge on Saturday July 21 2018, @05:42PM (#710501) Journal

    I think I've seen the same skin colors, but I don't think you're evaluating the spectral color correctly. The hint of blue is definitely there, and I didn't notice any green aura, so there probably wasn't significant yellow. But jet black is a shiny black. I.e., it reflects light in all frequencies (well, human visual). And I think that there was a small red undertone in the skin color. It was shiny (probably oiled), but it was a much "softer" color than jet.

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  • (Score: 2) by Immerman on Sunday July 22 2018, @06:37AM (1 child)

    by Immerman (3985) on Sunday July 22 2018, @06:37AM (#710683)

    Can't say I was performing spectral analysis. It was a shiny black so deep it was hard to see - jet enough for me.

    • (Score: 2) by HiThere on Sunday July 22 2018, @05:14PM

      by HiThere (866) Subscriber Badge on Sunday July 22 2018, @05:14PM (#710811) Journal

      Well, neither was I except metaphorically. What I meant was the skin was shiny in certain angles, and where it wasn't there were dark brown undertones as well as blue. So not evenly absorptive.

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