[csaa-forum] CFP: Affect and Embodiment in Human-Robot Interaction [Cambridge, UK Deadline: 21 Feb]

[Paterson, Mark]

Thought some of you would be interested in this upcoming workshop I’m co-organizing – we’d like a mixture of theorists and cultural and media studies scholars amongst the engineers, designers, and computer scientists… email me if you have questions.

HRI 2020 Call for Papers: ‘Affect and Embodiment in HRI’ Workshop
15th Annual ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human Robot Interaction, Cambridge, UK, March 23-26, 2020

https://sites.google.com/view/affect-and-embodiment-hri

Rationale
How do forms of robot embodiment influence the emotional state of the user? In Human-Robot Interaction (HRI), affect and embodiment have become prominent areas of inquiry. The physicality of robotic systems is therefore a crucial factor for user interactions in shared spaces. This recognition of machinic corporeality shares theoretical affinities with recent interests in the humanities and social sciences. In the cognitive sciences and philosophy, for example, the body has long been regarded with suspicion, but recent theories of embodied, extended, enactive, or ecological (4E) cognition have meant a renewed significance for the body as the locus of perception and action, inseparable from memory, learning, and reasoning activity. Meanwhile, the ‘Affective Turn’ in the social sciences recognizes the role of affects and embodiment in the production of intersubjective experiences.
Designing and evaluating the affectivity of the robot body has become a frontier topic in HRI, with previous studies emphasizing the importance of robot embodiment for human-robot communication. In particular, there is growing interest in how the tactile, haptic materiality of the robot mediates users’ affective and emotional states.

Workshop Objectives
1) to identify relevant questions for the design of robotic bodies with high affective qualities;
2) to consider cross-currents in ethical, philosophical, and methodological questions in studying emotional relations between humans and robots; and
3) to foster synergies among designers, engineers, and social scientists in affective robotics.

Topics of interest
Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

  *   Current challenges in designing affective physical embodiment in robots—materials, kinesthetics, sensory experience, and behaviors enabled by affective computing
  *   Acknowledging a user’s emotional needs within an interaction and how those needs are met or not met by the robot
  *   Novel affective experiences afforded by interaction with robots
  *   Studying unintended consequences of affective relationships with robots
  *   Developing design frameworks and methodologies to approach the above questions
  *   Developing theoretical frameworks and social science methodologies for evaluating affect and embodiment in human-robot interactions

Types of contribution
The workshop includes three types of contributions: full papers (15 mins), ignite talks (5-10 mins), and a hands-on interaction session based on co-design methods. We will accept four full presentation papers and six ignite talks, each of which will raise a significant question or problem around affect and embodiment in HRI. The workshop includes two interactive, participatory activities. The first is a ‘Mapping and Clustering’ exercise based on co-design methods. The second is a round-table discussion with themed questions. Developed papers from the workshop will be collected and published in a special issue of a journal such as Body & Society or The Senses and Society.

Workshop schedule

  *   Introductory remarks and short position statements
  *   Full presentation papers (4 x 15 mins)
  *   Ignite talks (6 x 5-10 mins)
  *   Interactive session - group hands-on activity with post-it notes based on co-design methods (1 hour)
  *   Roundtable/conclusion with themed questions

Detailed program will be published on the Program page<https://sites.google.com/view/affect-and-embodiment-hri/program> closer to the conference date.

Important Dates
21 February 2020: Submission Deadline for Extended Abstracts (500-800 words)
1 March 2020: Notification of acceptance for presentations
23 March 2020: half-day Workshop

Format
Please submit an extended abstract in MS Word format. Abstracts should be 500-800 words (references do not count towards submission length); this applies to both submissions for full presentations or ignite talks. Please indicate in your abstract whether your submission is for a full presentation or an ignite talk.

How to Submit
Please submit in MS Word to affectandembodimenthri at gmail.com<mailto:affectandembodimenthri at gmail.com>, with the email subject of "Submission for Workshop HRI2020".


Dr. Mark Paterson
Assistant Professor
Department of Sociology
University of Pittsburgh

research | sensory-motor.com<http://sensory-motor.com/>
faculty | profile<http://www.sociology.pitt.edu/person/mark-wd-paterson-phd>
cfp | ‘affect and embodiment in HRI’ workshop, Human Robot Interaction (HRI) 2020, Cambridge UK
recent paper | ‘On pain as a distinct sensation’, Body & Society 2019 [video<https://www.theoryculturesociety.org/video-mark-paterson-on-pain-as-a-distinct-sensation-mapping-intensities-affects-and-difference-in-interior-states/>]

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