Robots for Learning 7 (R4L): A Look from Stakeholders' Perspective

Abstract

This year's conference theme "HRI for all" not just raises the importance of reflecting on how to promote inclusion for every type of user but also calls for careful consideration of the different layers of people potentially impacted by such systems. In educational setups, for instance, the users to be considered first and foremost are the learners. However, teachers, school directors, therapists and parents also form a more secondary layer of users in this ecosystem. The 7th edition of R4L focuses on the issues that HRI experiments in educational environments may cause to stakeholders and how we could improve on bringing the stakeholders' point of view into the loop. This goal is expected to be achieved in a very practical and dynamic way by the means of: (i) lightening talks from the participants; (ii) two discussion panels with special guests: One with active researchers from academia and industry about their experience and point of view regarding the inclusion of stakeholders; another panel with teacher, school directors, and parents that are/were involved in HRI experiments and will share their viewpoint; (iii) semi-structured group discussions and hands-on activities with participants and panellists to evaluate and propose guidelines for good practices regarding how to promote the inclusion of stakeholders, especially teachers, in educational HRI activities. By acquiring the viewpoint from the experimenters and stakeholders and analysing them in the same workshop, we expect to identify current gaps, propose practical solutions to bridge these gaps, and capitalise on existing synergies with the collective intelligence of the two communities.