XR4HRI: 1st ISMAR Workshop on Extended Reality for Human-Robot Interaction

The topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

Technologies and concepts

• Registration and Tracking,

• Visualisation concepts (data, intent, communication, feedback),

• Interaction concepts,

• Touch, haptics, and pseudohaptics.

• Safety and risk management,

• Usability and user experience,

• Robotic virtual twins (e.g., for teleoperation or HRI simulation).

Application scope

• Different types of robots, including, but not limited to: stationary / mobile / flying; functional / humanoid / zoomorph; teleoperated / shared-control / peer2peer

• Application domains such as, but not limited to: industrial, medical, automotive, consumer, assistive robotics, and social applications.

Workshop date: October 5th 2026

Publication track

Paper submission deadline: July 5th July 11th 2026

Notification of acceptance: July 17th 2026

Camera-ready paper deadline: July 30th 2026

Voluntary poster deadline for remote participants: September 28th 2026

Non-archival track

Paper submission deadline: September 4th 2026

Notification of acceptance: September 18th 2026

Voluntary poster deadline for remote participants: September 28th 2026.

Session 1 | 14:00 – 15:30

14:00 – 14:10 | Welcome & Introductions
Introduction and housekeeping, followed by a round of attendee introductions

14:10 – 14:45 | Keynote Ulrich Eck
Improving Trust & Acceptance for Autonomous Robotic Ultrasound

14:45 – 15:15 | Paper Presentations
Presentations of accepted submissions

15:15 – 15:30 | Interactive Session: Kick-off
Introduction to the interactive session and collection of topics

15:30 – 16:15 | Coffee Break

Session 2 | 16:15 – 17:45

16:15 – 16:45 | Keynote Amber Maimon
Extending Cognition and Embodiment in Robots through NeuroHRI

16:45 – 17:40 | Interactive Session: HRI × XR – Bridging Two Worlds
 

17:40 – 17:45 | Closing & Wrap-up

Keynote #1: Dr. Ulrich Eck - Improving Trust & Acceptance for Autonomous Robotic Ultrasound

Abstract
Autonomous robotic ultrasound could make high-quality imaging more available and less dependent on the operator. Clinical adoption, though, depends on people as much as on technology: patients must accept being scanned by a robot, and physicians must trust it enough to hand over control. This keynote summarizes several years of work at TUM's Chair for Computer Aided Medical Procedures on these human factors. It builds on the lab's long-standing research in robotic ultrasound and on recent advances in AI-based reasoning.

The work rests on two pillars. The first is XR and multimodal interfaces that make the robot's plans and actions visible to operators, such as trajectories and contact forces shown in situ, with audio-visual feedback on the applied pressure. The second is conversational virtual agents built on real-time speech-to-text, LLM, and text-to-speech pipelines, most notably the Intelligent Virtual Sonographer. It reassures patients, answers their questions, and turns physicians' spoken instructions into robot actions. The talk draws design lessons from user studies with patients and clinicians and closes with open challenges for clinical translation.

Biography
Dr. Ulrich Eck is Vice Director of the Chair for Computer Aided Medical Procedures (CAMP) at the Technical University of Munich, a role he has held since 2021. He leads the chair's Medical Augmented Reality research group and manages the NARVIS laboratory, where he has worked since 2016, first as Senior Research Scientist. He received his Ph.D. in Computer and Information Science from the University of South Australia in 2016. His thesis was on precise co-location of haptic devices in visuo-haptic augmented reality. His research uses Mixed and Augmented Reality to improve human–computer interaction in medical education, training, and intervention. This includes intra-operative navigation and guidance, haptic-enabled simulators, real-time interactive system architectures, and, more recently, immersive interfaces for robotic ultrasound. His work has received the IJCARS–MICCAI 2022 Best Paper Award, the MICCAI 2017 Young Scientist Award, Best Paper and Best Student Paper honorable mentions at IEEE VR 2025 and ISMAR 2024, and the ISMAR 2011 Best Demo Award. He has served on the ISMAR Steering Committee since 2018. He was General Chair of ISMAR 2018 in Munich and S&T Program Chair of ISMAR 2024 and 2025.

Keynote #2: Dr. Amber Maimon - Extending Cognition and Embodiment in Robots through NeuroHRI

Abstract
Perception is shaped by the brain’s ongoing interaction with the body and environment. Extended Reality (XR) can put us in control of this relationship, allowing us to alter sensory input, action-feedback contingencies, experienced bodies, and interactions with other agents. This talk examines these possibilities through the lens of neuroplasticity and embodied and extended cognition, moving outward from neural dynamics within the individual, to shared interaction, the environment, and finally artificial agents and bodies. At this boundary between person and machine, robots allow us to examine the relationship bidirectionally: how can interacting with robots affect the way the brain represents bodies and agents, and how can knowledge of brain structure and function inform robotic design? Drawing on studies of perception of non-humanoid robots, physiological coupling, robotic embodiment, and interoception inspired design, the talk connects XR and robotics as settings for investigating how brains and machines adapt to one another.

Biography
Dr. Amber Maimon is a research fellow and research strategist working at the interface of neuroscience and human-computer interaction (NeuroHCI). She draws on cognitive and neural science to design, develop, and study human-centered interactive systems across brain, body, and environment. Her work spans human augmentation, XR, robotics, neurotechnology, healthcare, and assistive technologies.