HRI 2026: Call for Full Papers

The ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) is a premier, highly-selective venue presenting the latest advances in Human-Robot Interaction. The 21st Annual HRI conference theme is “HRI Empowering Society.”

The conference seeks contributions from a broad set of perspectives, including technical, design, behavioral, theoretical, and methodological, that advance fundamental and applied research in human-robot interaction. Full papers will be archived in the ACM Digital Library.

Important Dates

• Abstract Submission Deadline (required for all full papers): September 22, 2025, 11:59 pm AoE
• Submission Deadline (only if you submitted the abstract before Sep 22): September 30, 2025, 11:59 pm AoE
• Review Notification: November 10, 2025
• Rebuttals Due: November 14, 2025, 11:59 pm AoE
• Decision Notification: December 1, 2025
• Camera Ready Deadline: January 9, 2026, 11:59 pm AoE

Abstract Submission

All full papers are required to submit an abstract and basic details about the paper a week before the paper submission deadline. Papers that did not submit the abstract on time will not be accepted.

In addition, the abstract, title, and list of authors’ information that is submitted at that time must be complete. Submissions for which it is obvious that the information submitted by the abstract deadline is merely a placeholder or incomplete will be deleted.

Format and Submission

• Full papers are up to eight camera-ready pages, including figures, but excluding references.
• Submissions longer than eight pages of content excluding references will be desk rejected and not reviewed.
• All papers for the conference must be submitted in PDF format and conform to ACM Proceedings specifications (US letter).
• We are following the general ACM SIG format (“sigconf”, double column format), not the SIGCHI format.
• Templates are available at this link (US letter).
• ACM has partnered with Overleaf, where you can start writing using this link directly (note that this Overleaf document uses the new ACM workflow by default, which is not what HRI is using; to fix this, make sure the document uses the “sigconf” document class, rather than the “manuscript,screen,review” document class that is enabled in the Overleaf document by default).

Tracks

The HRI 2026 full paper submissions will have five tracks:

• Theory and Methods
• Design
• Technical
• Systems
• User Studies

Authors are strongly encouraged to read through the track’s descriptions.

You will need to indicate your choice of track (and optionally your second choice) when you submit your abstract. During the initial paper check stage, the Program Committee may suggest a track change that they deem more appropriate. However, the final track choice remains a decision by the authors to be confirmed by the full paper deadline.

ACMs New Open Access Publishing Model

Starting January 1, 2026, ACM will fully transition to Open Access. Authors will have two primary options for publishing Open Access articles with ACM: the ACM Open institutional model or by paying Article Processing Charges (APCs).

Understanding that this change could present financial challenges, ACM has approved a temporary subsidy for 2026 to ease the transition and allow more time for institutions to join ACM Open. The subsidy will offer:

• $250 APC for ACM/SIG members
• $350 for non-members

This temporary subsidized pricing will apply to all conferences scheduled for 2026, including HRI.

New ACM Publication Policies

By submitting your article to an ACM Publication, you are hereby acknowledging that you and your co-authors are subject to all ACM Publications Policies, including ACM’s new Publications Policy on Research Involving Human Participants and Subjects.

Accessibility

Make sure to read and follow the accessibility requirements, which we will provide soon.

Anonymization

The HRI 2026 full papers review process is double-blind; every aspect of all submissions must be properly anonymized. For full details on how to do anonymization, see the anonymization guidelines (coming soon). If a submission contains any element (e.g., text or figures in the full paper document, artifacts, or supplementary materials) that violates the anonymization guidelines, it will be desk rejected. If there are exceptional circumstances, please contact the Program Chairs as soon as possible (pc2026@humanrobotinteraction.org).

Supplementary Materials

Authors have the opportunity to upload up to three supplemental files in conjunction with their full paper submission. It is important that any supplemental materials that are uploaded are also properly anonymized. Any submission that contains any element (full paper or supplementary materials) that violates the anonymization guidelines will be desk rejected.

In general, there are three main types of supplemental materials that may be submitted: videos, appendices, and artifacts (e.g., software, hardware, data sets, etc.).

Video Guidelines

Authors may submit a 1-minute video (up to 100 MB) as a supplement to their full paper. Videos are not mandatory but may be helpful to visibly showcase a working system, experimental conditions, environment context, results, etc. Accepted full papers with a video in supplementary material will be considered for Demo Fast Track.

Artifact Guidelines

Across all full paper tracks, we encourage submissions that introduce a novel “artifact” as an enabler to reproducibility, replicability, and recreation of HRI research, and/or to support new lines of HRI research. Ensure that artifacts are properly anonymized prior to submission.

Appendix Guidelines

Appendices are only for supplementary materials that would interrupt the flow of the text if presented in the main document. Examples may be questionnaires used as measurements, tables of supplementary data, or figures of experimental apparatus.

Studies with Human Participants

To support building a strong evidence base in HRI, and encourage future reproducibility of published work, all submissions involving studies with human participants clearly outline their methodology. Studies that involve human participants need to include an ethical approval statement.

Policy on Use of ChatGPT or Similar Models

Text, images or any material generated from foundation models (LLMs, VLMs etc.), such as ChatGPT, must be clearly marked where such tools are used for purposes beyond editing the author’s own text. Furthermore, HRI follows the ACM Policy on Authorship. Any AI system, including Generative Models, such as ChatGPT, BARD, or DALL-E, do not satisfy the criteria for authorship of papers and, as such, also cannot be used as a citable source in papers published by ACM and IEEE. Authors assume full responsibility for content, including checking for plagiarism and veracity of all text.

Desk rejects

Desk rejects are made during the initial checks of submissions to save our reviewers’ time. The main reasons for a desk rejections include:

• Scope
• Anonymization
• Incomplete submissions
• Formatting issues
• Other obvious issues

Descriptions of Full Paper Tracks

Theory and Methods

The primary contribution for the Theory and Methods track is to further the conceptual foundations of HRI. Unlike in earlier years, this track will not include reproducibility. Reproducibility studies should be directed to the User Studies track. Methods for generating design belong in the Design track; methods for measuring or studying HRI belong in the Theory and Methods track. Technical methods or tools belong to the Technical track.

Design

The Design track brings together design-centric research contributions to human-robot interaction (HRI). This includes novel design approaches, new robot morphologies, behavior paradigms, interaction techniques, and the exploration of new contexts for interaction that yield unique or improved interaction experiences with or capabilities for robots.

Technical

The primary knowledge contribution of papers submitted to the technical track is expected to be a novel algorithm (formalized through pseudocode), mathematical model (formalized through a set of equations), tool, hardware element, or human-robot interface, and should provide enough detail to allow reproducibility.

Systems

Because HRI is by its nature an integrative discipline, the Systems track focuses on contributions which consist of a synthesis of underlying techniques and/or technologies to achieve system-level HRI behavior.

User Studies

The studies track welcomes submissions that provide new knowledge about human-robot interactions based on studies involving people. We encourage authors to select at least one subtheme that aligns with their submission. These subthemes guide reviewers and ensure appropriate expertise during evaluation.

• Interpersonal Constructs: Focuses on emotional, social, behavioural, and interpersonal aspects of HRI, including affect recognition, social signaling, empathy, and engagement.
• Special Populations: Examines how robots support learning, therapy, care, or personal growth across the lifespan, in different subsets of the population (e.g. older adults, children, neurodivergent individuals, etc.)
• Teams, Collaboration & Communication: Explores task-based interaction and teamwork with robots, including coordination, shared goals, and communication.

Contacts

If you have any questions, contact the Program Chairs.

Program Chairs: Maartje de Graaf (Utrecht University), Matthew Gombolay (Georgia Institute of Technology), Ilaria Torre (Chalmers University of Technology).

Email: pc2026@humanrobotinteraction.org