The role of voice and appearance in gender perception of speaking robots

To enhance the design of gender-ambiguous speaking robots, designers could benefit from more insights into how people integrate robot appearance and voice in the gender perception of robots. In an online survey, we presented audio-only, visual-only, and audiovisual displays of gendered (and gender-ambiguous) robots and asked participants to rate the perceived level of femininity, masculinity, and gender-ambiguity of these robots. We investigated how the addition of an embodiment feature (voice, robot appearance) or gender (feminine, masculine, ambiguous) affected the perceived gender of speaking robots. Results showed a complex interplay between the variables under study: the magnitude and direction of effect on perceived gender are dependent on the embodiment feature, the gender of the added feature, and the gender identity of the basis that was added to. Furthermore, we found that the addition of a voice to a gender-ambiguous identity has more impact than the addition of a robot appearance on the perceived gender-ambiguity by lowering perceived ambiguity. For the design of gender-ambiguous robots, efforts should focus on making the appearance more ambiguous to counterbalance the gendered effect of voice.