Gendered by Design: Gender Codes in Social Robotics

The design of gendered sociable robots is the focus of this paper. Drawing on a communication studies perspective, culturally diverse affective sociable robotics that are inflected with feminine social codes, sometimes in function or form are examined. Communication studies, an interdisciplinary approach, shapes my inquiry of this topic through careful attendance to the social shaping dimensions of technology. The process of ascribing gender to robots makes evident that "gender belongs both to the order of the material body and to the social and discursive or semiotic systems within which bodies are embedded" (Wajcman, 2004). This work provides an overview of the way in which gender is presently researched within the field of social robotics as well as the various ways in which gender is purposefully ascribed to sociable robot projects. The implications of gendering robot is considered and some preliminary thoughts on ways in which robot design might work against adopting a simplified gender stereotyped approaches in their work.