We are pleased to invite abstract submissions for the workshop “Robots for Humans: Designing Social Robots That Spark Children’s Creativity”, which will be held in conjunction with the ICSR + Art 2026 Conference, in London, UK.
The third edition of the RfH workshop aims to discuss the current trends in using robots to increase, empower, and sustain children’s creativity and artistic skills. Creativity is a fundamental component of children’s cognitive, emotional, and social development and is widely regarded as a key capability that should be nurtured from an early age. Canonical literature frames creativity as the ability to generate ideas or artifacts that are both novel and useful, yet research increasingly points to a concerning decline in children’s creative abilities during the school years. This “creativity crisis” highlights the need for environments and tools that can actively sustain children’s imaginative thinking and expressive potential.
Recent research shows that social robots can act as supportive partners in nurturing and enhancing children’s creativity. Studies in child–robot interaction (CRI)demonstrate that embodied agents can scaffold creative processes through divergent thinking prompts, adaptive feedback, emotional attunement, and multimodal interaction. In parallel, the field of robotic art has shown how machines can participate in open-ended processes of artistic emergence, revealing how robotic platforms can become sources of creativity.
However, existing work in Robot–Art and Human–Robot Co-Creation remains fragmented and has paid limited attention to the specific opportunities and risks that arise when the creators are children. Finally, emerging evidence with neurodivergent populations suggests that personalized and inclusive robot behaviors can lower creative barriers, foster agency, and support the development of diverse creative styles over time. These findings highlight the strong potential of using robots to support children’s creativity. This applies both to neurodivergent children, who may benefit from creative activities that are structured yet expressive, and to neurotypical children, for whom creative engagement is closely tied to well-being and a sense of autonomy.
uilding on these insights, we argue that creativity not only shapes how children interact with robots but also how they may co-design a robot’s roles, behaviors, and artistic contributions within co-creative systems. We invite contributions from researchers and practitioners in HRI, AI, psychology, design, arts, education, healthcare, and other related fields. Topics of interest include (but are not limited to):
Topics of interests include but are not limited to:
- Social Robotics for Children’s Creativity in HRI
- Emotion, Personality & Engagement in Creative Contexts for children
- Therapeutic & Assistive Creative in CRI
- Educational & Playful Creative Robotics in CRI
- Advances in Social Robotics and AI for CRI
- Creative Robotics and Artistic Expression
- Diversity of Approaches in Creative HRI
- Benefits and Harms of AI in Creative Contexts in CRI
- Children’s Empowerment Through Creativity and Art in CRI
- Creative Robotics for Neurodivergent or divergent Children
- Creative Robotics for Well-being and Emotional Development
- Robots for Fostering and Sustaining Children’s Creativity
- Creativity-driven learning methods in CRI.
- Creative and participatory design in CRI.
We particularly welcome interdisciplinary and speculative approaches that challenge existing paradigms and propose new directions for socially intelligent robotics. We invite authors to submit an extended abstract (up to 4 pages, excluding references) in PDF format, outlining their research, ideas, or ongoing work relevant to the workshop themes. Submissions will be lightly peer-reviewed by the organizers based on relevance, originality, and potential for discussion. Please, refer to the Main conference's template (**[https://icsr2026.uk/calls/#RegularPaper](https://icsr2026.uk/calls/#RegularPaper)**).
Accepted abstracts will be presented during the workshop as short talks or posters, depending on the number and type of submissions. We aim to foster a lively, inclusive, and interdisciplinary dialogue.
Important Dates
- Submission Deadline: TBD
- Notification of Acceptance: TBD
- Camera Ready: TBD
For any inquiry, please contact us at r4hworkshop@gmail.com.