Robot gender can influence your choices at a restaurant

Robots are becoming a familiar sight in the hospitality world. They’re guiding guests, delivering meals, and even recommending menu items.

But something as subtle as a robot’s “gender” might shape how customers respond to these interactions – especially when the customer feels unsure or lacks confidence.

That’s the focus of a new study from researchers at the Penn State School of Hospitality Management.

Their work shows that the gender traits assigned to service robots – like a masculine name or voice – can sway how customers make decisions. Their experiments also revealed how cute robot designs might help tone down this influence.

Confidence shapes robot response

The study looked at how people react to service robots depending on how powerful or confident they feel.

According to the researchers, robots are often designed to mimic human features – from names and voices to colors and shapes. These features suggest gender. But how people respond to these features isn’t one-size-fits-all.

“Robots can be designed or programmed to have human-like features like names, voices, and body shapes, which portray gender,” said study co-author Anna Mattila.

“In addition to robot gender, a consumer’s sense of power – how individuals perceive their ability to influence others or their environment – can also affect how successful a service robot can be in making recommendations.”

Gender influences choices

To test this, the researchers conducted two studies. In the first, 239 participants were asked to imagine dining at a new restaurant. Before interacting with a robot server, they assessed their own feelings of power.

The robot then recommended a breakfast burrito, and participants rated how persuasive the robot was.

The robot’s design was altered slightly to show gender – using pink to suggest a female robot and gray to suggest a male one. Everything else stayed the same.

“We found women with a low sense of power were more prone to accept a male robot’s recommendations,” said study lead author Lavi Peng.

“For men with a low sense of power, we found the difference was less obvious. Based on our findings, consumers with high power tend to make their own judgement without relying on societal expectations. They are more confident and want to make decisions based off their own judgment.”

Robot traits affect revenue

This suggests that gender cues from robots can influence decision-making, particularly for customers who don’t feel in control. The researchers say this insight could help restaurants and hotels tailor their robot features to encourage upsells or promote new offerings.

“Upselling and upgrading are all about persuasion, and the results of our study suggested robots with male characteristics could be effective,” Peng said.

“If a business knows its customer is female, it may want to consider using a robot with different gender characteristics than it would with a male customer.”

Adorable bots beat bias

The second part of the research explored how to reduce the effects of gender cues. If businesses want to avoid reinforcing stereotypes, is there a design trick that helps?

To find out, the team recruited 156 university students. These participants were chosen because, as students, they are often in subordinate roles – a group that tends to feel less powerful.

Instead of using color to suggest gender, the researchers equipped robots with gendered facial designs displayed on a screen mounted on a Bear Robotics Servi robot.

These faces included stereotypically masculine or feminine features, but were drawn in a “cute” style – round faces, large eyes, and gentle expressions. Participants interacted with the robot, then rated its recommendation for avocado toast.

“Both male and female customers responded similarly to both the male and female robot designs,” Peng said. “For businesses that want to mitigate gender stereotypes, they can consider using a cute design for their robots.”

In short, cuteness may override gender cues. When robots look soft and friendly, people seem less sensitive to whether the robot appears “male” or “female.”

Designing better service robots

As more businesses adopt service robots, these small design details will start to matter more. This research suggests companies can do more than just program a helpful machine – they can use subtle features to shape customer experiences.

That might mean using masculine traits to upsell certain items, or adopting gender-neutral, cute designs to avoid reinforcing stereotypes.

For hotels and restaurants, these choices could make a real difference in customer satisfaction and business outcomes.

Sound like science fiction? Maybe not for long. The future of hospitality might just depend on how your breakfast burrito gets recommended – and who (or what) is doing the recommending.

The findings are published in the Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management.

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