**Apologies for cross-posting**

The full-day virtual workshop:

Machine Learning for HRI: Bridging the Gap between Action and Perception (ML-HRI)

In conjunction with the 31st IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN) – August 22, 2022   

Webpage: https://ml-hri2022.ivai.onl/

I. Aim and Scope

A key factor for the acceptance of robots as partners in complex and dynamic human-centered environments is their ability to continuously adapt their behavior. This includes learning the most appropriate behavior for each encountered situation based on its specific characteristics as perceived through the robots senors. To determine the correct actions the robot has to take into account prior experiences with the same agents, their current emotional and mental states, as well as their specific characteristics, e.g. personalities and preferences. Since every encountered situation is unique, the appropriate behavior cannot be hard-coded in advance but must be learned over time through interactions. Therefore, artificial agents need to be able to learn continuously what behaviors are most appropriate for certain situations and people based on feedback and observations received from the environment to enable more natural, enjoyful, and effective interactions between humans and robots.

This workshop aims to attract the latest research studies and expertise in human-robot interaction and machine learning at the intersection of rapidly growing communities, including social and cognitive robotics, machine learning, and artificial intelligence, to present novel approaches aiming at integrating and evaluating machine learning in HRI. Furthermore, it will provide a venue to discuss the limitations of the current approaches and future directions towards creating robots that utilize machine learning to improve their interaction with humans.

II. Keynote Speakers and Panelists

1. Dorsa Sadigh – Stanford University – USA
2. Oya Celiktutan – King's College London – UK
3. Sean Andrist – Microsoft – USA
4. Stefan Wermter – University of Hamburg – Germany

III. Submission

1. For paper submission, use the following EasyChair web link: Paper Submission.
2. Use the RO-MAN 2022 format: RO-MAN Papers Templates.
3. Submitted papers should be 4-6 pages for regular papers and 2 pages for position papers.

    The primary list of topics covers the following points (but not limited to):

• Autonomous robot behavior adaptation
• Interactive learning approaches for HRI
• Continual learning
• Meta-learning
• Transfer learning
• Learning for multi-agent systems
• User adaptation of interactive learning approaches
• Architectures, frameworks, and tools for learning in HRI
• Metrics and evaluation criteria for learning systems in HRI
• Legal and ethical considerations for real-word deployment of learning approaches

IV. Important Dates

1. Paper submission: June 17, 2022 (AoE)
2. Notification of acceptance: August 1, 2022 (AoE)
3. Camera ready: August 14, 2022 (AoE)
4. Workshop: August 22, 2022

V. Organizers

1. Oliver Roesler – IVAI – Germany
2. Elahe Bagheri – IVAI – Germany
3. Amir Aly – University of Plymouth – UK