** Apologies for cross-postings **

CALL FOR PAPERS:

* What: RoboCare Design Workshop at DIS 2024 on “Understanding, Translating, Operationalizing, and Scaling Up Design Knowledge Regarding Robotic Systems for Care Assistance”

* When: July 2, 2024

* Where: IT University, Copenhagen-DK (at the DIS 2024 conference)

* Web: https://sites.google.com/wisc.edu/robocaredesign

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IMPORTANT DATES: All dates are Fridays and times are Anywhere on Earth (AoE) unless specified otherwise.

* May 15, 2024: Submission site opens

* May 24, 2024: Early-bird paper deadline

* May 29, 2024: Early-bird notification deadline

* Jun. 3, 2024: General submission paper deadline

* Jun. 19, 2024: General submission notification deadline

* Jun. 27, 2024: Camera-ready deadline

* July 2, 2024: Workshop (full-day)

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OVERVIEW:

Robots and other autonomous agents are well-positioned in the research discourse to support the care of people with challenges such as physical and/or cognitive disabilities. However, designing these robots can be complex as it involves considering a wide range of factors (e.g., individual needs, physical environment, technology capabilities, digital literacy), stakeholders (e.g., care recipients, formal and informal caregivers, technology developers), and contexts (e.g., hospitals, nursing homes, outpatient care facilities, private homes). The challenges are in gaining design insights for this unique use case and translating this knowledge into actionable, generalizable guidelines for other designers. This one-day workshop seeks to bring together researchers with diverse expertise and experience across academia, healthcare, and industry, spanning perspectives from multiple disciplines, including design, robotics, and human-computer interaction, with the primary goal being a consensus on best practices for generating and operationalizing design knowledge for robotic systems for care settings.

The workshop structure will include keynote speakers, author presentations, a panel, and small/large group discussions. Our primary goal is to encourage interaction and discussion among interdisciplinary researchers. Keynote speakers will include Dr. Selma Šabanović, who will share expertise on design and evaluation of socially interactive and assistive robots, and Dr. Christopher Frauenberger, who will share expertise on working with a wide range of stakeholders for robot design. With our panel, we aim to capitalize on Denmark's many initiatives for robots in healthcare to bring a variety of experts from the industry to help enrich and guide our discussions and takeaways.

The workshop will be in-person only, held at DIS’24 in Copenhagen, Denmark.

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TARGET AUDIENCE:

Our workshop welcomes participants from various sectors, with a primary focus on:

* Core research community members surrounding robotic systems for care settings.

* Members of related fields, e.g., the broader accessibility and aging research communities.

* Members from the industry seeking to deploy/market robotic systems for care.

* Researchers or community members who may have an active personal interest in the topic.

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THEMES:

Participation in our workshop is open to all, and while submissions are not required, they are highly encouraged. We invite contributions in the following areas:

* Design Outcomes: We invite contributions that scrutinize the multifaceted design aspects of robotic care systems. Discussions should revolve around the efficacy of various design outcomes, exploring the potential to standardize these for broader applicability. Submissions may address questions such as: What constitutes a meaningful outcome of a design study? How can we extend these findings to benefit the wider research and design community?

* Stakeholder Involvement: Care assistance is a collective effort, engaging numerous participants from care recipients to caregivers and beyond. We seek insights into effective stakeholder integration within the design process. Queries might include: How do we strategically involve stakeholders? What are the advantages of multi-stakeholder vs. single-stakeholder sessions in the design process?

* Design Methodologies: This theme encourages a critical examination of the methodologies employed in designing robotic care systems. We welcome debates on the merits and drawbacks of various approaches, such as surveys, participatory design, and lab studies. Contributions should consider: Which methodologies are suited for which contexts? How can we address common critiques of these methods?

* Reflections on Design Experiences: The practical experiences of researchers offer invaluable lessons. This theme is dedicated to sharing those lessons that fall outside the conventional academic narrative but are crucial for informing future design studies. We invite reflections on: What strategies have proven successful? Which aspects of the design process could be improved?

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SUBMISSIONS:

Authors are invited to submit short papers of 2-4 pages describing extended abstracts, work in progress, preliminary findings, position papers, methodology papers, blue skies papers, etc. related to any of the topics above. Submissions should be made using the ACM templatehttps://www.acm.org/publications/proceedings-template; Overleaf provides an appropriate templatehttps://www.overleaf.com/latex/templates/acm-conference-proceedings-primary-article-template/wbvnghjbzwpc that may be used. The submission link can be found on the workshop website.

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MORE INFO:

For more information, please visit our website (https://sites.google.com/wisc.edu/robocaredesign) or contact Laura Stegner (s*****r@wisc.edumailto:s*****r@wisc.edu).

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ORGANIZERS:

* Laura Stegner (University of Wisconsin-Madison)

* Richard Paluch (University of Siegen)

* Long-Jing Hsu (Indiana University Bloomington)

* Sawyer Collins (Indiana University Bloomington)

* Yaxin Hu (University of Wisconsin-Madison)

* Marius Greuèl (Pflegewerk Managementgesellschaft mbH)

* Naonori Kodate (University College Dublin)

* Claudia Müller (University of Siegen)

* Bilge Mutlu (University of Wisconsin-Madison)

* Selma Šabanović (Indiana University Bloomington)