The Naked Truth?

Abstract

When judging humans, (formal) clothes play a vital role for the attribution of trust, competence and sympathy. Most social robots, however, appear unclothed and not much is known whether and how clothes can influence how a robot is perceived. In an experiment, participants experienced either a formally dressed, an informally dressed or an undressed robot and rated their experience on different questionnaires. Inconsistent with our expectations, the data revealed no influence of robot clothing on the experience of the robot. Possible reasons and implications for further studies are discussed.