Sketching Robots: Exploring the Influence of Gender-Ambiguous Voices on Robot Perception

When a robot is developed, it usually has well-defined physical and occupational characteristics that are often gendered. This can influence the Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) experience and also risks fostering harmful gender stereotypes in society. One factor contributing to gender attribution to robots is their voice, which can be manipulated and changed to fit any need. Thanks to the recent development of gender-ambiguous voices, this provides an interesting research space to investigate if this modality can reduce robot gendering. Our research investigates whether these voices influence how people picture a robot in different occupational contexts. We asked participants to sketch a robot after listening to either a gender-ambiguous voice presenting a neutral, feminine, masculine scenario, a female voice presenting a feminine scenario, or a male voice presenting a masculine scenario. Results indicate that an ambiguous voice influences gender associations, as participants were less likely to assign a gender to their sketched robots when exposed to an ambiguous voice, compared to a male or female voice. This finding highlights the potential of deploying ambiguous voices to reduce gender biases in HRI, even in stereotypically gendered roles, such as security guards or secretaries.