Keep an Eye on the Task! How Gender Typicality of Tasks Influence Human-Robot Interactions

In the present experiment, we tested the impact of the gender typicality of a human–robot interaction (HRI) task on the user’s performance during HRI, and on evaluation and acceptance of the robot. N = 73 participants (38 males and 35 females) performed either a stereotypically male or a stereotypically female task while being instructed by either a ‘male’ or a ‘female’ robot. Our results revealed that gender typicality of the task substantially influenced our dependent measures: Specifically, more errors occurred when participants collaborated with the robot in context of a typically female work domain. Moreover, participants were less willing to accept help from the robot in a future task when they performed a typically female task. These effects were independent of robot and participant gender. Furthermore, when instructing participants on a female task, the male and the female robot were perceived as equally competent. In contrast, when instructing participants on a male task, the female robot was perceived as more competent compared to the male robot. Our findings will be discussed with regard to theoretical and practical implications.