BRIDGE - Social Robots from Childhood to Young Adulthood

As social robots become increasingly present in domains such as education and healthcare, it is vital to understand how they can foster meaningful, long-term relationships, adapt to individual users, and be deployed ethically and effectively. This interdisciplinary workshop brings together researchers and practitioners from HRI, psychology, education, computer science, linguistics, and design to explore current challenges and opportunities in using social robots with children and younger adults. The BRIDGE workshop is a collaborative initiative that aims to foster cross-disciplinary dialogue, share methodological insights, and advance responsible, inclusive practices for child–robot interaction.

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), on topics related to the objectives of the workshop (but not limited to).

Selected contributions will be presented as posters (A0) during the workshop, with time allocated for discussion and networking. Participants without submission are also welcomed.

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 discuss how variability in children’s behavior—across individuals, groups, and contexts—can be meaningfully addressed through inclusive, developmentally appropriate, and culturally sensitive design approaches, and to compare methodological strategies for capturing and analyzing variability.
• To exchange of advances about human-robot bonding and discussing criteria on how to develop long-term interactions for vulnerable young user groups to establish a bond in education and health care.
• To investigate the impact of robot role framing and adaptive learning algorithms on children's learning outcomes and emotional responses in educational settings, with a focus on real-time personalization and responsiveness to individual needs.
• To foster interdisciplinary collaboration, allowing experts from various fields to share insights and offer constructive feedback on each other’s research, and promoting a more holistic, impactful approach to studying and implementing social robots in educational contexts.

Invited Speakers and Panelist

• Tony Belpaeme (Ghent University, Plymouth University)

• Barbara Bruno (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology)

• Elly Konijn (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)

• Aylin Küntay (Koç University)

• Michelle M. Neumann (Sheffield University)

• Ali Paikan (LuxAI)

• Astrid Rosenthal-von der Pütten (RWTH Aachen)

Bridge Organizers

Anna Allegra Bixio, Alessia Bartolini, Tony Belpaeme, Tessa Beinema, Denise Geiskkovitch, Maria Filomia, Veerle Hobbelink, Elly A. Konijn, Mike Ligthart, Alice Nardelli, Marieke T. H. van Otterdijk, Giulia Pusceddu, Carmine Tommaso Recchiuto, Astrid Marieke Rosenthal-von der Pütten, Antonio Sgorbissa, Sofia Serholt, Matthijs Smakman, Heqiu Song, Alice Stopponi, Nils Frederik Tolksdorf, Daniel Tozadore, Caterina Ceccato, Peggy van Minkelen, Anita Vrins.

Contact

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