Framework
Robot clothing can provide protection, social signaling, and adaptability. These functions expand what robots can do and help people understand their role.
Clothing for Robots / PhD thesis / Cornell Tech
What robots need from clothes
A PhD thesis asking how clothing can help robots communicate, function, and adapt-without simply mimicking human apparel.
Risks
Clothing can interfere physically, communicate the wrong meaning, or reproduce cultural assumptions. Designers must consider pinch points, drape, donning and doffing, and the context in which a robot appears.
Expert practice
Interviews with experts showed that robots are dressed to fit in, mark special events, express identity, appeal to people, or cover machinery. Practitioners use a vocabulary that includes skins, clothes, costumes, and bling.
Related publication
What Robots Need From Clothes↗︎