Errors, Mistakes, and Failures in Humans and Robots

Workshop hosted in conjunction with the

2026 ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction

Overview

The workshop aims to advance understanding of errors in human–robot interaction by examining human-induced, robot-induced, and interaction/communication errors, their causes, and their impact on collaboration, trust, and safety. It seeks to share methods for detecting, mitigating, and recovering from these errors. By fostering interdisciplinary discussion among researchers in robotics, HCI, cognitive science, and social sciences, the workshop encourages the development of robust, user-centered, andsocially responsible HRI systems. By looking at ways to handle errors and failures, identifying future research in this area and emerging challenges, we can empower users and society by promoting reliable, transparent, and accessible HRI.

Motivation

Errors in HRI pose a crucial challenge for the deployment of robots in everyday, safety-critical and socially sensitive settings. Communicative errors, chat breakdowns, and the social credibility of robots impact how humans perceive risk, trust, and safety, highlighting that not only technical error, but social framing and recovery strategies are crucial. There is also the issue of human-induced interaction errors, highlight ing that some errors originate not in a robot’s hardware, but in human commands, assumptions orintent, and that systems must be designed to detect and respond to these errors. Natural communication and dynamic language repair can improve how robots and humans collaborate, particularly when miscommunication or misunderstanding can lead to errors. Collectively,these perspectives motivate a systematic study of error typologies, repair mechanisms, and social framing in HRI; not simply to minimise errors, but to build resilient systems that empower society.

Important Dates

Early Submission Deadline: 13th Jan 2026 (23:59 AoE)

Early notification of Acceptance: 26th Jan 2026 (23:59 AoE)

2nd round paper Submission Deadline: 30th Jan 2026 (23:59 AoE)

Notification of Acceptance: 14th Feb 2026 (23:59 AoE)

Camera-Ready Deadline: 6th March 2026 (23:59 AoE)

HRI Conference: March 16th - 19th 2026

Workshop: TBD

Fostering interdisciplinary discussion among researchers in robotics, HCI, cognitive science, and social sciences, to encourage the development of robust, user-centered, and socially responsible HRI systems.

The Speakers

Tom Williams

Associate Professor

Colorado School of Mines; Director, MIRRORLab

Ilaria Torre

Assistant Professor

Chalmers University of Technology

2023 - ImpRR workshop, HRI 2023 - The Imperfectly relatable robot workshop - https://sites.google.com/view/hri-failure-ws/home
2023 - WTF: Working with Trouble and Failures in conversation between humans and robots workshop, CUI conference - sites.google.com/view/wtf2023/overview
2022 - WTF: Working with Trouble and Failures in conversation between humans and robots workshop - sites.google.com/view/wtfworkshop2022/overview

Support

This workshop is endorsed by:

IEEE Technical Committee for Cognitive Robotics (https://www.ieee-ras.org/cognitive-robotics/ )

Contact

Any questions?

email us - emf.hri26@gmail.com

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