BRIDGE - Social Robots from Childhood to Young Adulthood

This workshop explores the integration of social robots into daily life, particularly in educational and therapeutic settings for children, adolescents, and young adults, emphasizing the opportunities and challenges of human–robot interaction (HRI), focusing on the emotional and social dimensions of long-term engagement.

Submission Guidelines

We welcome submissions from researchers, practitioners, and interdisciplinary teams exploring innovative approaches to human-robot interaction and related topics.

Submit a 300-word abstract by July 11, 2025 (AoE) 

Selected abstracts will be presented as posters during the workshop.

List of Topics

• Long-term engagement and bonding
• Variability in Child-Robot-Interaction and adaptation strategies
• Group dynamics in Child–Robot settings
• Developmental and cultural factors
• Ethics and value-sensitive design
• Research methodology and interdisciplinary challenges

Objectives

• To explore personalization strategies for child–robot interactions and their implications for long-term engagementc
• To examine how variability in children’s behavior—both within and between individuals and groups—can be modeled and meaningfully addressed
• To discuss how we can address attachment, detachment, and the narrative identity of robots
• To reflect on the ethical challenges in the deployment of personalized robots in education, healthcare, and everyday contexts
• To discuss inclusive and culturally sensitive design approaches for diverse child populations
• To compare methodological approaches for capturing, analyzing, and evaluating child–robot interactions in complex real-world environments
• To exchange of advances about human-robot bonding and discussing criteria on how to develop long-term interactions for vulnerable user groups to establish a bond.
• To discuss challenges and directions for future work and foster potential collaborations 
• To explore the impact of robot role framing (e.g., peer, tutor, tool) on children's learning outcomes and emotional responses in educational settings.
• To investigate how adaptive learning algorithms can enable social robots to respond to individual children's needs in real-time, enhancing personalization and engagement.
• To foster interdisciplinary collaboration, allowing experts from various fields to share insights and offer constructive feedback on each other’s research
• To explore new approaches for designing and studying social robots that cater specifically to the developmental needs of children
• To bridge the gap between siloed, monodisciplinary research efforts and promote a more holistic, impactful approach to studying and implementing social robots in educational contexts.

Invited Speakers

• Prof. Dr. Tony Belpaeme (Ghent University)

• Prof. Barbara Bruno (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology)

• Prof. Dr. Elly Konijn (VU)

• Prof. Michelle N. Neumann (Southern Cross University)

Contact

All questions about submissions should be emailed to Carmine Recchiuto, carmine.recchiuto@dibris.unige.it