Smart Toys++: Exploiting the Social Connectedness for Playing and Learning

The prior edition of this workshop, the 1st Workshop on Smart Toys, Smart Tangibles, Robots and other Smart Things for Children, initiated the discussion of concerns related to interaction with settings and devices that may exhibit smart behaviors thanks to embedded electronics, data processing and artificial intelligence.

Under the umbrella of smart toys, a myriad of interactive systems have addressed a variety of scenarios considering entertainment, education, sustainability, social and environmental learning through play. Tangibles and small toy robots prevail; but interaction technology based on wearables, conversational interfaces or augmented reality may also be part of this landscape to implement smart toys that are both social and/or connected. Due to the pandemic, social isolation forced us to change the way we interact with each other. We are convinced that smart technologies can open new avenues for promoting social connectedness enabling more interactive playing and learning activities.

How to participate

The full-day workshop will be held online as part of IDC 2021.

We welcome three different types of contributions:

a) position papers in relation to any aspect relevant to the workshop;

b) Live-demo or video, accompanied by a short description and potential benefits as an input to the workshop;

c) Expression of interest to participate by students, non-academics and practitioners, describing their background and a motivation of what they would like to do/achieve in relation to the topics of the workshop.

For any of the types, participants are requested to submit their contribution in PDF following the ACM Master Article Submission Templates (single column, no longer than 4 pages). To grant participation, your contribution must be submitted to the organizers before the deadline below via email to alejandro.catala [at] usc.es.

The contributions will be subject to a juried process to assess their relevance for the workshop, ensuring diversity as well. Accepted contributions will only be distributed internally among the participants to facilitate workshop preparation and networking, on the premise of not redistributing the materials. Some asynchronous networking activities are planned prior to the workshop day in order to prepare a successful synchronous session.

At least one author of each accepted position paper must attend the workshop and all participants must register for both the workshop and the main conference.