CfP: Workshop on Designing and Evaluating Social Robots for Public Settings @ IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS) 2015.

Important Dates
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Submission deadline: 24th July 2015
Notification of acceptance: 14th August 2015
Camera-ready deadline: 28th August 2015
Workshop: 28 September 2015 - full day

Abstract
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Social robotics has become increasingly important in HRI, yet robots are often still designed and evaluated using traditional lab-based experimental methods that derive from the AI roots of robotics as a field. Increasingly however, robotics researchers are considering the value of multi-disciplinary design and evaluation methods, including the mixed-methods lab-based designs used traditionally within the social sciences along with ‘in the wild’ testing through field deployments in public settings. In this workshop, we will explore the challenges to both robotic design and evaluation methods that these hybrid methodologies create, and how these challenges might be harnessed to promote a more ‘human-centred’ approach to HRI.

This workshop will bring together a multidisciplinary group of researchers to identify and address key challenges to the future study of social robotics in both lab and field, and will include guest speakers with backgrounds in a range of methodological approaches to HRI.


Submissions
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We invite researchers to submit either a 4-6 page paper OR a 2 page extended abstract that relates to the workshop theme. Video submissions will also be considered. We seek submissions that use a wide range of methodological approaches, from traditional quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods, through to ethnomethodology and new/ emergent methods for studying HRI. These approaches may be lab-based or “in the wild” (i.e. studies that are conducted in public / semi-public spaces).

Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

* What should a human-centred robotics study look like?
* Central design methods and approaches of robotics that support an ‘in-the-wild’ approach to HRI evaluation.
* The legal and ethical considerations of working with robotics in public settings.
* How existing public perceptions of robotics can be incorporated / accounted for in research design.
* The transfer of methodologies from the social sciences / HCI to HRI, including the identification of potential methodological gaps.
* The use of new technologies (e.g. motion / eye trackers) to enable new evaluation methods in this area.

Authors will be allotted a short time slot to present their work during the workshop. Accepted papers will also be considered for inclusion in a proposed special issue based on the workshop theme.

Submission System
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Submissions are handled via EasyChair: https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=iros15desrps


Further Information
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Please direct queries to Chris Bevan:
(c.r.bevan@bath.ac.uk).

For more information please go to the workshop website at http://iros15-desrps.chrisbevan.co.uk/


Organisers (Alphabetical)
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Dr. Chris Bevan (University of Bath, U.K.)
Dr. Paul Bremner (Bristol Robotics Laboratory, U.K.)
Prof. Danaë Stanton Fraser (University of Bath, U.K.)
Dr. Hatice Gunes (Queen Mary University London, U.K.)