Design a robot that is able to…: gender stereotypes in children’s imagination of robots

This study explores the perceptions of gender and anthropomorphism in robots as imagined and drawn by children. It was conducted in a lower secondary school in Siena with children aged 11-13. Participants were asked to draw a robot fit for one of two job roles: house decoration (stereotypically more feminine) or snow shovelling (stereotypically more masculine). Pupils were also asked to fill out a printed ques- tionnaire with the aim to collect some general personal information and descriptions of the robot that each of them had drawn. The findings show a tendency to ascribe male or gender-neutral traits to the robots. Notably, younger children more frequently drew colourful, anthropomorphic robots for the house decoration task, whereas older students predominantly designed black and white, machine-like robots suited for the snow shovelling task.