Facepalm

The actual reason is space-flight aesthetics, right?
Space stuff itself being white for insulation purposes.

I'd think that light colours make it easier to see if plastic panels have cracked or there's leaks in hydraullics or scorched spots.

Robots should be red for strength, green for agility, and blue for precision.

It's popular to make robots white because it shows scuffs, falls, and damage more easily. Which helps developers figure out how they fall or where they scuff from mistaken actions.

Sign my petition to make all robots neon colored.

Is that really ken bone?

I have never met a human the color of that robot. Not even albino folks are that color.

Ragebait never fails to work.

How many replies, likes and retweets does the average CNN Twitter post have? I bet this one has more.

Also this screenshot is from 2019 and the crux of the article is:

The robots used in the study are clearly robots but have human-like limbs and a head, with exterior complexions that are white – which is to say, pinkish – or black – really, a deep brown.

It's not that difficult. White robots are good, black robots are evil.

Nobody has ever been saved from a fire by a black robot with red eyes. Checkmate!

Now I want a robot in glorious GameCube purple.

CNN has always loved ragebait.

Shit, and here I was thinking I like white robots because white is my second favorite color. Damn, that makes me racist, doesn't it?

Polished chrome or go home!

So does CNN just push all the bullshit now?

They were supposed to be moderately respectable but this is a mad article. It's not even the first time this comment is being made and every single time it's pointed out how stupid it is

I was hoping for hot pink. Guess I’m a misogynist meow.

Most devices are actually black but Apple tends to make white products (even if they do offer other colours, it's the white version in their ads) to differentiate themselves from other products.

Because Apple puts a strong emphasis on marketing, a device that has white casing is seen as new and more advanced than other products. So when companies are promoting a new technology they will tend to make it white to piggy back on Apple's extensive marketing.

I mean look at that photo of that robot. They'd probably need to round out the edges a little more to make people feel like it's something that Apple would make but there is some degree of association there.

There's probably some influence from science fiction too, but the root cause of the aesthetic of the robots in things like the Portal games can probably be traced back to Apple as well. I don't recall robots in science fiction looking this way until after Apple went this direction in their product design.