Man ‘too black’ for soap dispenser as diversity in tech comes under spotlight (VIDEO)

Do you ever get the feeling that we're all being trolled?

A video of a black man unsuccessfully trying to get soap from an automatic dispenser has gone viral amid claims that the tech devices struggle with racial diversity. Chukwuemeka Afigbo, based in Lagos, Nigeria shared the footage on his social media accounts. The video opens with a white man getting soap from the dispenser. A dark skinned man then tries, with no luck. The men can be heard saying “too black” as they continue to struggle with the device.

Eventually, a white paper towel is passed under the device, which immediately triggers the sanitizer.

Linky


First off, I've never seen other black people having trouble getting them to work. Then, those soap dispensers don't have cameras. I know because I had to fill them and you have to open them up to do it. They can't detect if somebody is black or white. They're triggered by a motion sensor. This is how motion sensors work:

In case you don't want to or can't watch the video:

Infrared radiation exists in the electromagnetic spectrum at a wavelength that is longer than visible light. It cannot be seen but it can be detected. Objects that generate heat also generate infrared radiation and those objects include animals and the human body whose radiation is strongest at a wavelength of 9.4um. Infrared in this range will not pass through many types of material that pass visible light such as ordinary window glass and plastic. However it will pass through, with some attenuation, material that is opaque to visible light such as germanium and silicon. An unprocessed silicon wafer makes a good IR window in a weatherproof enclosure for outdoor use. It also provides additional filtering for light in the visible range. 9.4um infrared will also pass through polyethylene which is usually used to make Fresnel lenses to focus the infarared onto sensor elements...

Full article

So if someone has hands that are dark, from say dirt, the dispenser won't work?

That is a design flaw, the free market will fix that by facilities buying dispensers that work and throwing them poorly designed ones in the landfill and giving the product bad reviews so others don't buy a broken product. This will cause the manufacturer to either fix the product or go out of business.

Wait this is possibly real? I thought /pol/ trolled me when the article popped up. Someone also labeled soap dispensers a tool to exert white supremacy.

This reminds of some scenes in the third season of Fargo as well.

I wondered why all the soap dispensors locally had been "torn down", of course they are racist!!! everything is.....



RA

originally posted by: TinfoilTP
So if someone has hands that are dark, from say dirt, the dispenser won't work?

That is a design flaw, the free market will fix that by facilities buying dispensers that work and throwing them poorly designed ones in the landfill and giving the product bad reviews so others don't buy a broken product. This will cause the manufacturer to either fix the product or go out of business.

Did you, um, read the OP's statement? Don't think ya did.

He could have smiled and passed his teeth in front of the sensor.
I have a good friend that is as black as an egg plant.
He's never told me of having any such problem.

When my Pez dispenser goes empty, I think about things like these.
When in doubt:
www.youtube.com...

We have one at work and it doesn't work right most of the time , some of are white and some black .
These things are just junk that they put in to save water . not to mention that you can't even get your hands really clean .
They arent racist they just suck .

originally posted by: skunkape23
He could have smiled and passed his teeth in front of the sensor.
I have a good friend that is as black as an egg plant.
He's never told me of having any such problem.

Now that sounds racist.

I now have to feel guilty for laughing.

originally posted by: whyamIhere

originally posted by: skunkape23
He could have smiled and passed his teeth in front of the sensor.
I have a good friend that is as black as an egg plant.
He's never told me of having any such problem.

Now that sounds racist.

I now have to feel guilty for laughing.

I am so not racist that I feel comfortable making racist jokes.

originally posted by: skunkape23

originally posted by: whyamIhere

originally posted by: skunkape23
He could have smiled and passed his teeth in front of the sensor.
I have a good friend that is as black as an egg plant.
He's never told me of having any such problem.

Now that sounds racist.

I now have to feel guilty for laughing.

I am so not racist that I feel comfortable making racist jokes.

I'm glad...

The whole pigment based hate thing is getting old.

There are two types of motion sensors. Active and passive, active utilizing ultrasound and the latter, Infrared energy.
One detects an object, the other heat.

Before we go all race baiting here we should be sure what kind of technology is being employed in said dispenser and whether it was malfunctioning or the sensor covered wth soap...

These sensors are much like the motion detectors that open the doors to the grocery store or cause the sinks and toilets in the airport to activate without touch. We see motion-sensing devices everywhere. But how do they work?

Motion sensors

Well if the stupid moron would have actually touched the button it would have worked !!!

The public toilets in a mall near me are certainly racsist against me.

The soap dispenser never bloody works. Always after a damn good Cantonese feed too. You try getting sticky red sauce off your fingers from those chicken wings.

I want reparations !!!11

a laser sensor would fix that in a jiffy

a reply to: Skid Mark

Uhhhhh um yeah well I seriously wonder how did society get to this point???? Crying over very small things.

If they seriously wanna cry over something, wait until the coming economic collapse where there will be plenty to cry about.

a reply to: TinfoilTP
Excellent reply Tin. Perfectly on point, with no drift to stupid and pointless side issues or any of the other crap. Enough complaints from consumers and the problem is solved.

a reply to: intrptr
Thanks for the added input. I forgot about ultrasound.

a reply to: Skid Mark

Since a person puts their hands into the dispenser palms up, I don't see how this could be a thing, or even believable, unless someone had never seen a Black person.

The palms of most Black people are most often no different than the palms of a person of any other color.

a reply to: Skid Mark

I am actually going to guess that this because of wear and tear or these guys used something to dampen the censor