Women Are Funny: Influence of Apparent Gender and Embodiment in Robot Comedy

Previous robotics work has identified significant effects of perceived gender and embodiment on human perceptions of robots, but these topics have yet to be investigated in the context of robot comedy. The presented study explored the effects of gender and embodiment on audience members’ perceptions of a robotic comedian. Participants (N = 153) observed either an audio-only clip or a video of a robotic comedian, with either a male or a female voice. We measured self-reported ratings of robot attributes. Results showed that neither gender nor physical form influenced joke humorousness or robot attribute ratings, however those who viewed a video of the robot reported feeling more connected to the comedian. These findings suggest that, unlike in past studies of human comedy to date, gender stereotypes and physical appearance may not affect perceptions of robot comedy performance.