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Current studies in the field o human-robot interaction (HRI) connect robots due to technical restrictions sometimes via wires to the internet or the computer of the experimenter. This simple wired connection might change aspects especially in regard to the perception of the robot that were not intended. Most crucially, the wired connection might lead to a change of the perception from the robot as source of information to the robot as medium of the information (Hoorn, 2021). This might reduce the perception of robots as independent entities that are attributed with intentions and agency (Broadbent, 2017; Young et al., 2011). Moreover, based on the link between task and appearance (Goetz et al. 2003, Roesler et al. 2021) the wired connection might influence different task settings differently. Social robots commonly aim to communicate with their human counterpart to engage them and/or distribute knowledge to them (e.g., education) (Campa, 2016; Belpaeme et al., 2018). Depending on what content the robot is communicating, the cable could have a different impact. Most typically social robots teach STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathamatics) topics to students (Belpaeme & Tanaka, 2021). However, those robots are also used for more emotional and social tasks such as storytelling (Steinhaeusser et al., 2021). First the task might influence how the robot is perceived - either as technology or more humanlike entity. Second, in connection with the cable social contents and tasks might be affected more negatively by a cable than more technical content and tasks. Based on research of Roesler et al. (2023) we further investigate these effects in a laboratory study.

Current studies in the field o human-robot interaction (HRI) connect robots due to technical restrictions sometimes via wires to the internet or the computer of the experimenter. This simple wired connection might change aspects especially in regard to the perception of the robot that were not intended. Most crucially, the wired connection might lead to a change of the perception from the robot as source of information to the robot as medium of the information (Hoorn, 2021). This might reduce the perception of robots as independent entities that are attributed with intentions and agency (Broadbent, 2017; Young et al., 2011). Moreover, based on the link between task and appearance (Goetz et al. 2003, Roesler et al. 2021) the wired connection might influence different task settings differently. Social robots commonly aim to communicate with their human counterpart to engage them and/or distribute knowledge to them (e.g., education) (Campa, 2016; Belpaeme et al., 2018). Depending on what content the robot is communicating, the cable could have a different impact. Most typically social robots teach STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathamatics) topics to students (Belpaeme & Tanaka, 2021). However, those robots are also used for more emotional and social aspects like storytelling (Steinhaeusser et al., 2021). First the story might influence how the robot is perceived - either as technology or more humanlike entity. Second, in connection with the cable more social content like storytelling might be affected more negatively by a cable than more technical content like STEM education.