As suggested by previous results, whether, when designing robots, we should make use of social stereotypes and thus perpetuate them is question of present concern. The aim of this study was the identification of the specific conditions under which people's judgments of robots were no longer guided by stereotypes. The study participants were 121 individuals between 18 and 69 years of age. We used an experimental design and manipulated the gender and strength of robots, and we measured the perception of how a robot could be used in automotive mechanics for light and heavy tasks. Results show that the technical characteristics of robots helped to anchor people's judgments on robots' intrinsic characteristics rather than on stereotypical indicators. Thus, stereotype perpetuation does not seem to be the sole option when designing robots.

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The development of Ambient Intelligence (AmI) will radically transform our everyday life and social representations. These transformations will notably impact the working environment. The objective of this paper is to offer a first survey of the main ethical issues raised by the development of intelligent working environments (IWEs). It especially focuses on the capacity of such environments to collect and handle personal medical data. The first two sections of this paper aim to clarify the methodology (2) as well as the object (3) of the research. We then point out some of the main ethical issues raised by IWEs and their capacity to collect and handle medical data. The final section attempts to offer some elements of reflection regarding the ethical principles that should guide the development of IWEs in the future.

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