GenR 2021: GENDERING ROBOTS (GenR): Ongoing (Re)configurations of Gender in Robotics RO-MAN 2021 Virtual Conference, Canada, August 8-12, 2021

Statement of Objectives

Within the GenR workshop, we aim to provide researchers investigating gender in robotics with a platform to share their work and invite interested scholars to reflect with us on inclusive and ethical practices in robot gendering. We hope to explore motivations for robot gendering, and understand how robot gendering might impact human-robot interaction in the face of its risks with regards to stereotype propagation. Furthermore, we would like to inspire discussions about the mindful use of robots in society and promote the possibility to use robots to oppose/challenge harmful social practices (gender stereotypes, gender inequality, etc.). To this end, we invite those working in related domains (e.g. Social Robotics, and Gender Studies) to discuss with us best practices to re-configure gender in robotics and shed light on issues of gender from a multidisciplinary perspective. Our goal is to bridge the communication gap we observed between disciplines addressing the topic of gender in robotics and the lack of spaces to converse with and learn from one another.

Submission Guidelines

Since our workshop aims at bringing researchers from different fields together and  starting a conversation on the process of gendering robots, we are open to two formats of submissions: abstracts (1 page) and short papers (2-4 pages). We particularly encourage submissions presenting works in progress, as accepted authors will be invited to identify discussion points and questions they would like to put to our panelists and other attendees. In line with the intent of the workshop, we accept different types of submissions: empirical papers, experimental design protocols, philosophical essays, studies with preliminary results and more conclusive papers. 

• Deadline for Paper Submission: July 7th, 2021
• Paper Acceptance Notification: July 21st, 2021
• Camera Ready Paper: July 28th, 2021
• Workshop date: August 12th, 2021

Authors should submit their papers formatted according to the IEEE two-column format, the same as the main conference (LaTeX or MS-Word templates).

Submissions will be evaluated according to their fit to the workshop theme, their thought-provoking content, and their adherence to the scientific standards of the discipline of origin. The reviews will consist of constructive feedback mindful of the authors’ multidisciplinary background. We will prefer qualitative evaluations to score-based numerical ones.

List of Topics

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

• Gendering practices in Social Robotics
• Experimental studies on gendered robots
• Feminist robotics
• Robot’s gender design
• Norm-critical design
• Queer design in HRI
• Sex Robots
• Ethics of Gendered Robots
• Normative deviance in relation to robot gender
• Societal implications and applications of gendered robots
• Performative arts encompassing a reflection on gender in robotics
• Non-binary perspectives on robot gender

GenR 2021 proceedings will be published on ArXiv and the authors will be invited to submit their work in a SPECIAL ISSUE on the International Journal of Social Robotics.

Organisers

• Dr. Giulia Perugia (Main Organiser), Postdoctoral researcher at Uppsala University, Sweden, giulia.perugia@it.uu.se
• Dr. Katie Winkle, Postdoctoral researcher at KTH, Sweden, winkle@kth.se
• Ryan Blake Jackson, PhD student at Colorado School of Mines, USA, rbjackso@mines.edu
• Dominika Lisy, PhD student at Linköping University, Sweden, dominika.lisy@liu.se

Panelists

• Prof. Ericka JOHNSON - Linköping University (Sweden)
• Dr. Katherine HARRISON- Linköping University (Sweden)
• Prof. Verena RIESER- Heriot Watt University (UK)
• Dr. Megan STRAIT - University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (USA)
• Prof. James E. YOUNG - University of Manitoba (Canada)

Keynote Speakers

• Prof. Friederike EYSSEL, University of Bielefeld, Germany
• Prof. Robert SPARROW, Monash University, Australia

Venue

The GenR will be held virtually in conjunction with the IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN 2021).

Contact

More information on the workshop can be found in the workshop website. All questions about submissions should be emailed to the workshop organisers.