Robots can have pretty privilege, too

The food delivery robots from a Finnish supermarket chain (S-kaupat, n.d.)

What even is pretty privilege?

Pretty privilege can be defined as “the idea that people who are viewed as more attractive or ‘prettier’ than others receive more opportunities, attention, and rewards” (sjs7860, 2023). It might be interesting to explore inter-artificial-creature pretty privilege, but for the sake of this assignment, I will focus on pretty privilege as an interaction between humans and artificial creatures.

In terms of artificial creatures, I have seen this manifest mostly in terms of humans helping robots in need: people seem to have a tendency to help robots that look cute.

Roundenss + eyes = cute

Pretty privilege or perceived cuteness in artificial creatures seems to come from two characteristics: roundness and eye-like features. We have a natural affinity to round shapes, and Gambino (2013) even notes that sharp shapes are seen as less organic. Maybe the added organic feeling brought by round shapes is what makes us treat robots with round shapes better.

For example, the food delivery robots for a Finnish supermarket chain are rounded and have what looks like eyes or a face on their build. Even though they lack distinct facial features, they appear cute, and have been cited as such by the general public. Since their introduction to the streets of Finland, videos have been posted across social media platforms showing the little bots getting stuck, and quickly getting helped by passersby. In the comment sections of such videos, the effect of pretty privilege is obvious. Commenters remark the adorable nature of the creatures and proclaim that they, too, want to help out one of the robots (sofia.sylvia, 2025).

Even something as simple as the black bar on the food delivery robot above gives the impression of eyes. We are all aware of the fact that adding a smiley face or some googley eyes onto an object immediately makes us feel like said object has some personality, and we often end up treating those objects better compared to ones without these facial features. The Tweenbot is a good example of this: a very simple-looking artificial creature with a smiley face was helped by passersby rather than being ignored or even trampled (The Museum of Modern Art, 2011).

Tweenbot (The Museum of Modern Art, 2011)

A pretty privilege -creature

I thought it could be interesting to take the idea that in terms of artificial creatures, roundness seems to result in pretty privilege, and run with it. What if we built an artificial creature based on the concept of roundness that could run an experiment simultaneously on whether pretty privilege applies to artificial creatures - are people more likely to help a robot in need if it is round?

I would make this creature from a relatively breakable material, like chalk. The creature would need to have some sort of motor inside of it to propel itself forward. It would start off as a shape with sharp corners, for example a cuboid, and over time, as the material erodes, its shape would become more rounded. At the same time, its movement would become easier as it erodes into a rounder shape. It should aim to keep moving constantly, so it could be placed on a treadmill of sorts, which it risks falling off of. It would be up to passersby to help the creature back onto the treadmill in case that happens.

It would be interesting to observe people’s behaviour in relation to the creature and its shape throughout this evolution. Would people be more likely to help the creature when it is somewhat round rather than having sharp edges? In other words, would the creature benefit from pretty privilege?

References

Gambino, M. (2013, December 4). Do our brains find certain shapes more attractive than others? Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved November 6, 2025, from https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/do-our-brains-find-certain-shapes-more-attractive-than-others-180947692/

sjs7860. (2023, April 6). Pretty privilege. Pretty Privilege | Applied Social Psychology (ASP) - Dr. Anthony Nelson, Ph.D. Retrieved November 6, 2025, from https://sites.psu.edu/aspsy/2023/04/06/pretty-privilege/

S-kaupat. (n.d.). Robokuljetus. S-kaupat Ruoan Verkkokauppa. Retrieved November 6, 2025, from https://www.s-kaupat.fi/sivu/robokuljetus

sofia.sylvia. (2025, February 23). Ruokarobotit vähän liian söpöjä kyllä nyt 🤖💘 [Video]. TikTok. Retrieved November 6, 2025, from https://www.tiktok.com/@sofia.sylvia/video/7474628043500195074?_r=1&_t=ZN-91Av0z6lHbK

The Museum of Modern Art. (2011). Tweenbot. Kacie Kinzer. Tweenbot. 2009 | MoMA. Retrieved November 6, 2025, from https://www.moma.org/collection/works/145467

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