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

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


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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by takyon on Saturday July 21 2018, @11:31AM (9 children)

    by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Saturday July 21 2018, @11:31AM (#710360) Journal

    So you want "black" robots, huh?

    But robots are meant to work as burger flippers, live-in housekeepers, harvesters, etc. at no pay.

    Maybe just leave it alone.

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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday July 21 2018, @11:40AM (8 children)

    You reckon they're aware that white folks aren't actually white and black folks aren't actually black? Given any significant sunlight at all, both are shades of brown in my experience.

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    • (Score: 2) by Immerman on Saturday July 21 2018, @03:08PM (7 children)

      by Immerman (3985) on Saturday July 21 2018, @03:08PM (#710437)

      I don't know, I've met a number of black people who, even in bright sunlight, appear jet black with a hint of blue.

      • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday July 21 2018, @03:32PM (1 child)

        Right then, who wants to volunteer their very dark skin to put in a mass spectrometer so we can settle this with science? We'll leave you the bits on your palms and the soles of your feet. They'd throw off the readings.

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        • (Score: 2) by edIII on Sunday July 22 2018, @02:07AM

          by edIII (791) on Sunday July 22 2018, @02:07AM (#710635)

          What he's trying to say is that there are black people, and there are "black as a struck match" people. That comment of course coming from Damon Wayans in Bulletproof.

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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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      • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Saturday July 21 2018, @06:37PM (1 child)

        by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Saturday July 21 2018, @06:37PM (#710527) Journal

        Ditto. Now, imagine yourself with color vision deficiencies. It's kinds unexplainable - color vision deficiency implies problems with red and green. But, an especially dark black person proves almost impossible to focus on. These people aren't real common, even in Africa, but meeting or seeing one in a crowd is memorable, for me, at least. About all I can do is force myself to NOT STARE at him/her.

        • (Score: 2) by Immerman on Sunday July 22 2018, @06:34AM

          by Immerman (3985) on Sunday July 22 2018, @06:34AM (#710682)

          Indeed - I don't know that I have any identified vision anomalies, but I have met a few people where the sensation of looking at a person-shaped hole in the world was a little unnerving. You're right there, I can see you okay, but my eye just wants to slide right off you. A particularly interesting visual conflict on a good-looking women that should otherwise be drawing your eye - a guest lecturer in an advanced calculus class I think that one was. She also had an impossibly deep resonance to her voice that set the windows to humming - made for one of the most surreal lectures I've ever experienced.