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Cultural Robotics Gets its Own Special Track at the 18th International Conference on Social Robotics (ICSR 2026)

Cultural Robotics continues to grow as an interdisciplinary field of research and practice. In next year’s edition of the 18th International Conference on Social Robotics (ICSR 2026), Cultural Robotics will have it’s own, special track!

Hooman Samani, along with Saina Akhond, will be General Chairs of the conference. The conference will run from the 1st to the 4th of July, 2026. Co-chairing the Cultural Robotics track are Jeffrey Koh and Belinda Dunstan, who have edited several books (1, 2, 3) and authored numerous peer-reviewed articles on Cultural Robotics, respectively.

As we approach the July 2026 ICSR opening, the CultureBots team will develop the scope and call for the special track. Some considerations include if we should publish in the proceedings or develop a separate, edited volume. Keep an eye on www.culturebots.org for our call for contributions, bookmark the ICSR website, and look forward to continuing the conversation on robotics and its role as cultural agents in London 2026!

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HRI'25 Update

Dear Cultural Robotics Community,

HRI'25 Melbourne is in full swing! The 2nd International Workshop on Cultural Robotics ran on day 1 and it was a success, with a very nice turnout of participants and contributors. Belinda Dunstan led us as we got our hands dirty and prototyped robot expression through movement and posture using found materials and puppetry techniques. There was also a lot of lively dialog around the inspired poster submissions. Bringing an art-school-vibe to HRI, we employed a 'gallery walk' critique format for the poster presentations. The diversity of projects and perspectives really pushed us to reflect on the values, principles, methods and practices that might emerge to further help us define 'Cultural Robotics'.

On day 2 there was an impromptu meetup of researchers and practitioners interested in the field(?). Meeting outside under the Melbourne sun evoked a sense of new beginnings. Discussions revolved around the platforms we might establish to facilitate more interaction within and beyond the community, milestones towards a thematic track at ICSR 2026 (Link to ICSR 2025) along with the potential for a special issue of IJSR. And of course, there was a lot of lively discussion on the definition of Cultural Robotics. Do we even attempt to define a position? Or do we rather nurture and facilitate space for a generative definition to emerge?

In an attempt to provide a means to loosely stay connected, the group agreed on LinkedIn as a bootstrap platform. A group has been created and we encourage you to join! We welcome your ideas on extending and hopefully, decentralising the community to better facilitate emergent and divergent directions for Cultural Robotics. If you want to be a more active collaborator and/or custodian for our growing community, please reach out... or don't and do your own thing! We're not the kultbots police. But we are here for you in whatever capacity.

And finally, for authors of the upcoming workshop proceedings, please keep an eye on the CultureBots website. The latest author instructions can be found there. We will also follow up with a separate email with more details soon. Thank you all, very much, for making HRI’25 Cultural Robotics: Diversified Sustainable Practices a success. We are excited to continue the journey together towards the publication and beyond.