 | iSRED 2026: International Symposium on Social Robots and Ethical Design 2026 Inamori Hall, Ito Campus, Kyushu University Fukuoka, Japan, November 10-11, 2026 |
| Conference website | https://www.isred-ethical.design/ |
| Submission link | https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=isred2026 |
| Submission deadline | July 31, 2026 |
[Call for Paper] The iSRED Annual Theme
"Leveraging Design Thinking for the Implementation of Responsible Robotics"
Deadline: July 31, 2026
As technological progress consistently outpaces traditional legislative processes, there is an urgent need for "compliance by design" in the development of social robots. This symposium explores how Design Thinking — a human-centric, iterative methodology — can serve as a foundational framework for Responsible Robotics. By applying core design thinking principles — Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype, and Test — developers can move beyond mere technical functionality to address the Ethical, Legal, and Social Implications (ELSI) inherent in human-robot interaction. One example is the "Ethics-by-Design" approach, integrated through the BS 8611 standard for robot ethics, allows for the early identification of societal hazards such as privacy loss, emotional dependency, and algorithmic bias. We welcome submissions that provide a case study/theoretical analysis of socially embedded systems (e.g., healthcare or assistive robots), demonstrating how iterative prototyping and stakeholder feedback loops foster transparency and accountability.
iSRED 2026 Symposium Topics include but are not limited to:
◎ Social, Ethical, and Environmental Implications of Social Robots
◎ Automation, AI Ethics, and Social Justice in Human-Robot Interactions
◎ Implications of Design Thinking for Social Systems, Robot Governance
◎ Social Robots and the Digital Transformation
◎ Challenges of Robot Technologies for Engineering Ethics Education
◎ Social Robots and Future of Work
◎ Emerging Robot Technologies and UN Sustainable Development Goals
◎ Ethics, Regulation, and Emerging Robot Technologies
◎ Perspectives on Robot Technologies from Humanities and Social Sciences
◎ Climate Change, Sustainability and Emerging Robot Technologies
◎ Teaching Robot Ethics
◎ The Future of Robot Innovation and Social Responsibility
The aim of this symposium is to foster interdisciplinary dialogue among philosophers, legal scholars, social scientists, psychologists, computer scientists, and roboticists. To avoid over-concentration on a single field, we adopted the structural design for the publication of accepted papers (they shall also be qualified to the requirements of IEEE Xplore) from its predecessor, IAS-FRIS Symposium on Social Robots and Ethical Design, and divided it into four major sessions, such as: Advanced Robotics is the focus of engineering, Human-Robot Interaction is the focus of psychology, Public Policy and Philosophy is the focus of humanities and social sciences, and Ethical Design and Governance is the focus of the interdisciplinary sciences. Our goal is to ensure that the Proceedings of iSRED 2026 covers all four sessions equally, but we will make necessary adjustments if there are too many or too few submissions for a particular theme.
Organization
General Chair
Yueh-Hsuan Weng (Kyushu University & Tohoku University)
Program Chair
Zonghao Dong (Tohoku University)
Secretary
Megumi Kiyota (Kyushu University)
Program Committee
Adel Baselizadeh (University of Oslo)
Andrew Chapman (Kyushu University)
Andrew McStay (Bangor University)
Anne S.Y. Cheung (The University of Hong Kong)
Atsuo Takanishi (Waseda University)
Auxane Boch (Technical University of Munich)
Benjamin Minhao Chen (The University of Hong Kong)
Benjamin C.M. Kao (The University of Hong Kong)
Binyang Song (Nanyang Technological University)
Boyoung Kim (George Mason University Korea)
Burkhard Schafer (The University of Edinburgh)
Chenhao Chiu (National Taiwan University)
Chia-huei Tseng (Tohoku University)
Chih-hsing Ho (Academia Sinica)
Christoph Luetge (Technical University of Munich)
Clement Yongxi Chen (The Australian National University)
David J. Gunkel (Northern Illinois University)
Diana Saplacan Lindbolm (University of Oslo)
Dingsheng Luo (Peking University)
Edson Prestes (UFRGS Porto Alegre)
Eduard Fosch-Villaronga (Leiden University)
Enrico Francesconi (IGSG-CNR Firenze)
Erich Schweighofer (University of Vienna)
Etsuko Kobayashi (The University of Tokyo)
Felix W.H. Chan (The University of Hong Kong)
Frank Pasquale (Cornell Tech & Cornell Law School)
Fumio Shimpo (Keio University)
Gabriele Trovato (Shibaura Institute of Technology)
Ginevra Peruginelli (IGSG-CNR Firenze)
Giovanni Sartor (University of Bologna & EUI)
Giuseppe Contissa (University of Bologna & EUI)
Heather A. Love (University of Waterloo)
Helena Haapio (University of Vaasa)
Henry Shevlin (University of Cambridge)
Hideki Kozima (Tohoku University)
Hsiu-Ping Yueh (National Taiwan University)
Hung-yu Chuang (National Chengchi University)
Ian Rowen (Kyushu University)
Jerrold Soh (Singapore Management University)
Jessica K. Barfield (University of Kentucky)
Jia-Yang Juang (National Taiwan University)
Jim Toerresen (University of Oslo)
John C. Havens (IEEE A/IS Initiative)
Joshua C. Gellers (University of North Florida)
Juliana Bowles (University of St Andrews)
Jun Shintake (The University of Electro-Communications)
Kamil Mamak (Jagiellonian University)
Kaori Yoshida (Kyushu Institute of Technology)
Kaoru Kakinuma (Tohoku University)
Katie Seaborn (University of Cambridge)
Kayleen Manwaring (UNSW Sydney)
Kazuhiro Nakadai (Science Tokyo)
Kenji Hashimoto (Waseda University)
Ker-Jiun Wang (University of Pittsburgh)
Kohei Tamura (Tohoku University)
Kuu-Young Young (National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University)
Li-Chen Fu (National Taiwan University)
Lucy McClune (CRC Press | Taylor & Francis Group)
Marcelo Corrales (University of Copenhagen)
Maria Claudia Solarte Vasquez (Tallinn Tech)
Mark Fenwick (Kyushu University)
Martim Brandao (King's College London)
Melanie Sarantou (Kyushu University)
Mizuki Takeda (Toyohashi Tech)
Naomi Lintvedt (University of Oslo)
Osamu Sakura (Jissen Women's University & The University of Tokyo)
Patrick Rau (Tsinghua University)
Peishan Yang (National Taiwan University)
Pericle Salvini (University of Oxford)
Phoebe Li (University of Sussex)
Qin Zhu (Virginia Tech)
Rob van den Hoven van Genderen (University of Lapland)
Robert Sparrow (Monash University)
Roberto V. Zicari (Seoul National University)
Ronald C. Arkin (Georgia Institute of Technology)
Ruth Lewis (IEEE SSIT Standards Committee)
Ryo Kurazume (Kyushu University)
Sarah Spiekermann (Vienna University of Economics and Business)
Satoshi Kato (Tohoku University & Ochanomizu University)
Satoshi Narihara (Kyushu University)
Selma Sabanovic (Indiana University)
Senando Angelo R. Santiago (University of the Philippines)
Sintaro Ono (Fukuoka University)
Soraj Hongladarom (Maha Chulalongkorn Rajavidyalaya University)
Steven van Uystel (Kyushu University)
Su-Ling Yeh (National Taiwan University)
Takashi Izumo (Nihon University)
Takayuki Kanda (Kyoto University)
Tatsuhiko Inatani (Kyoto University)
Tony Cheng (Waseda University)
Ugo Pagallo (University of Turin)
Vincent Blok (Erasmus University Rotterdam)
Weijane Lin (National Taiwan University)
Wonsup Jung (Kyungnam University)
Xavier Hinaut (INRIA)
Yasuhisa Hirata (Tohoku University)
Ying Hu (National University of Singapore)
Ying-Yin Huang (National Taiwan University)
Yueh-Hsuan Weng (Kyushu University & Tohoku University)
Yusuke Sugahara (Science Tokyo)
Yusuke Tamura (Tohoku University)
Zhenyu Liao (Fukuoka University)
Zonghao Dong (Tohoku University)
Schedule
Full Paper Submission: March 1 - July 31, 2026.
Workshop Proposal Submission: June 1 - July 31, 2026.
Notification of Acceptance: August 31, 2026.
Early Bird Registration: Starts August 31, 2026.
** iSRED 2026 offers authors the chance to submit papers in IEEE double-column format via EasyChair (https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=isred2026). Accepted papers that meet IEEE Xplore's scope and quality requirements will be published for inclusion in IEEE Xplore (Scopus-indexed). A paper may have 4-6 pages that include text, figures, tables, references, acknowledgements, and other relevant information.The peer-review process for all papers is double-blind, so submissions must be anonymous and do not contain author names or affiliations. iSRED 2026 has the IEEE Society on Social Implications of Technology (SSIT) as its Technical Co-Sponsor.