Hi all,
I am excited to share a Call For Participation for the HRI 2026 Special Session on “HRI and Consumer Robots: Building Robots that are Useful and Acceptable” https://humanrobotinteraction.org/2026/special-session-by-meta/ (sponsored by Meta) taking place on March 16, 2026 in *Edinburgh, Scotland, UK*.
Applications https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdaKZUswUDXvhZ5GwM5fNAQg55BSL2ZiyZgE6YwvWG2-GfsUg/viewform (required) and paper submissions https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfYQn0iKqQerMqhrTXPCHY6R1ZtS4C3jy4J6tovucF1xNYs2g/viewform (optional) are due on January 22, 2026. The session is open to academics and industry practitioners and is free to attend, but has limited space.
Meta is also providing travel support of up to $1,500 per person for people who submit an 1-2 page paper that is accepted.
See below for details.
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Session Title: “HRI and Consumer Robots: Building Robots that are Useful and Acceptable”
Organizers: Danny Ullman (Meta), Laura Trutoiu (Meta), Sarah Papazoglakis (Meta), Ross Mead (HRI 2026 Partnership Chair)
Date: March 16, 2026 (first day of the Human-Robot Interaction Conference)
Location: Edinburgh International Conference Centre, in Edinburgh, UK
Webpage: https://humanrobotinteraction.org/2026/special-session-by-meta
Application (required): Link https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdaKZUswUDXvhZ5GwM5fNAQg55BSL2ZiyZgE6YwvWG2-GfsUg/viewform; deadline January 22, 2026 (limited space)
Paper Submission (optional): Link https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfYQn0iKqQerMqhrTXPCHY6R1ZtS4C3jy4J6tovucF1xNYs2g/viewform; deadline January 22, 2026 (required to be considered for travel support)
Notification of Workshop Attendance: January 29, 2026
Notification of Paper Acceptance: January 29, 2026
Session Overview: The HRI 2026 conference is hosting a special session workshop sponsored by Meta that will explore what it means to build household robots for consumers—robots that provide people with meaningful value in everyday life. Together, we will explore how we can translate insights from academia into foundational framing which could help guide industry approaches to building robots that are both valuable to people and acceptable to people for in-home use. If the HRI community could offer guidance or principles to the humanoid robotics industry, what would it be?
(See additional details on the webpage https://humanrobotinteraction.org/2026/special-session-by-meta/)
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Ross Mead, PhD
*Partnership Chair https://humanrobotinteraction.org/2026/partners*
*HRI 2026 https://humanrobotinteraction.org/2026*