What’s in a name? An online survey on gender stereotyping of humanoid social robots

This study investigated whether humanoid social robots are implicitly assigned a gender, which then influences evaluations and acceptance of the devices. To assess stereotyping, a naming task was used. Pictures of robots were presented in a mock marketing survey, and the participants were asked to provide a name for the device and rate them on a number of characteristics and select potential tasks for them. Forty participants filled out the web-based survey. The results showed overwhelming preferences for male names, which were more pronounced for older participants and for those with a more feminine self-image. Robots that were rated higher on agency and lower on communion attributes were more likely to be assigned technical tasks, and they were less likely to be accepted into participants' personal lives. Thus, technological artefacts are subject to stereotyping. These findings are discussed within the framework of feminist technoscience.