CFP: RO-MAN Special Session on Ethical Design
Considering Ethics for the Design of AI-Empowered Robots Presenting with Social Identities
Based on advances in robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) social robots are entering society and becoming more human-like in appearance and social in behavior. For example, robots encountered in social contexts may be equipped with the latest version of LLM models, techniques for facial recognition and emotion detection, and with the ability to make decisions to achieve goals independent of human involvement. Equipped with the latest versions of AI, robots presenting with an identity are interacting with humans and displaying sophisticated social skills which raise important issues of ethics for human-robot interaction (HRI). For example, as humanoid robots become more autonomous in behavior who is responsible for any harms that may occur? Further, how is privacy impacted by robots equipped with LLMs such that their conversation with users is not only realistic but achieving a level of human-robot symbiosis which is similar to that of human-human interactions? In addition, what issues of ethics are involved when AI-empowered robots present with a social identity? How will we treat such robots ethically in social contexts? And as an emerging topic within the HRI community how will issues of ethics be challenged by the use of different techniques of AI (e.g., facial or emotion recognition) guiding the robots behavior?
This special session aims to bring together a set of papers and researchers that will collectively advance the discussion of ethics for robots that are more-and-more guided by AI, among others, allowing them to present with social identities, and that are becoming autonomous in behavior and humanoid in appearance. Given that the topic of the special session is multidisciplinary addressing it will add to the growth of the RO-MAN community by exposing the conference attendees to different perspectives on AI and ethics which involve social robots. And by considering principles of ethics for HRI the special session should inspire policy makers and designers to create human-robot interfaces such that the robots accommodate a diverse group of users. From the above questions we view issues of ethics that are impacted by increasingly smart robots that may raise issues of deception, emotional attachment, and privacy concerns as insufficiently addressed within the RO-MAN community and requiring an interdisciplinary approach as outlined in this proposal for a special session.
Additionally, the topic contributes to the growing discussion within the RO-MAN community on the role of ethics in the design and use of robots by helping to bridge the gap between researchers, practitioners, and policy-makers with an interest in designing robots that are more human in behavior but that act ethically toward users. For that reason we propose to invite scholars with expertise that intersects HRI, policy, and ethics to present at RO-MAN and support the special session. Additionally, given robots are becoming smarter and moving beyond the intellectual ability of current robots the motivation for the special session is the realization that AI-guided robots will pose significant challenges to normative ethical rules and guidelines for HRI. For that reason we propose the special issue to consider current and future-oriented issues of ethics that will be impacted by continuing advances in AI in the domain of social robots.
Summarizing, the special session will focus on an important and emerging issue for the RO-MAN community to address, that is, issues of ethics for AI-guided robots in an age of increasingly smart robots displaying sophisticated social skills and social identities.
How can I submit my paper? Please use this URLto submit your paper via Special session paper.
RO-MAN 2026 Special Session "Considering Ethics for the Design of AI-Empowered Robots Presenting with Social Identities" Co-Organizers and Associate Editors
- Jessicia K. Barfield (University of Kentucky)
- Yueh-Hsuan Weng (Kyushu University)
- Gabriele Trovato (Shibaura Institute of Technology)
- Melanie Sarantou (Kyushu University)
- Jiangen He (University of Tennessee at Knoxville)
- Ugo Pagallo (University of Turin)
- Kamil Mamak (Jagiellonian University)
