Roboticists Guide to Working with Children

HRI 2026 Workshop | March 2026 | Edinburgh, Scotland, UK

Joint Keynote Speakers and Guest Facilitators

Dr. Angela Colvert

Lecturer in Education and Deputy Director of Innovation in the School of Education, University of Sheffield UK. She developed the Playful by Design Tool through participatory workshops with diverse companies whilst working with the UK Digital Futures Commission.

Dr. Kruakae Pothong

Visiting Research Fellow in the Department of Media and Communications at the London School of Economics and Political Science. She co-developed the Playful by Design principles and co-authored the Playful by Design report with Dr. Sonia Livingstone. Her current research focuses on AI in education and (child) rights-respecting design of digital services.

Dr. Colvert and Dr. Pothong will introduce their Playful By Design deck with a particular emphasis on the practical design and implementation of systems taking into account the tensions that exist between developing playful, yet ethical and (child) rights-respecting systems.

Playful By Design

This includes a range of resources to provoke reflection, discussion, and fresh ideas. It is freely available for anyone involved in creating digital products used by children. It can be used by product developers and designers, whatever their experience or responsibilities, working in group settings or individually. It can be used at any stage of the design process and includes three components: principle cards, prompt cards and playboards.

All participants will be introduced and receive a copy of the decks to access and explore during the workshop.

Play around with the toolkit here: https://digitalfuturescommission.org.uk/playful-by-design-toolkit/

Organizers