EqRoW advances the conversation on equitable robotics for wellbeing by bringing together technical, design, and social-science perspectives to address how robots can be designed, deployed, and evaluated to serve marginalized and vulnerable communities (e.g., children, elderly, neurodivergent, disabled, and LGBTQ+ people). We foreground equity as a practical design and evaluation goal—moving beyond one-size-fits-all approaches toward methods that recognise diverse needs, mitigate bias and harm, and promote accessibility, privacy, and dignity across contexts such as schools, homes, workplaces, and care settings. The workshop will combine invited talks, lightning presentations, and a moderated panel to: (i) surface community-specific needs and risks in wellbeing robotics; (ii) share methodological toolkits for equitable, participatory, and co-design practices; (iii) examine user-centred transparency, security, and privacy as preconditions for trust; and (iv) identify evaluation strategies and reporting practices for underserved users.

We invite authors to submit their contributions as 3-4 page (plus additional pages for references and appendices) papers, highlighting their experimental results, technical reports, and case studies focused on Equitable Robotics for Wellbeing. 

• Submission page here: https://easychair.org/conferences?conf=eqrow26
• Website link here: https://sites.google.com/cam.ac.uk/eq-rw/home?authuser=0 

We also invite researchers to submit position articles as 1-2 page extended abstracts (posters). These accepted poster submissions will be presented as lightning talks during the dedicated poster session at the workshop. All submissions will be peer-reviewed for their novelty, relevance, contribution to the field, and technical soundness.

Overarching Themes

We believe that these sessions will benefit the robot learning community by bringing together a diverse and multidisciplinary group of expert speakers and organisers who already have experience to share on responsible development for equitable robotics for wellbeing. The key questions and topics that the workshop aims to address include:

• Ethical, Social, and Justice Perspectives:
  • Ethical considerations of robotics for wellbeing
  • Justice-centred approaches to engineering and design
  • Fairness, bias detection, and mitigation in HRI
  • User-centred explainability and transparency
• Designing for Marginalised and Vulnerable Communities:
  • Robotics for wellbeing in elderly care
  • Robotics for wellbeing in childhood and education
  • Inclusive robotics for LGBTQ+ communities
  • Assistive and advocacy-focused robotics for disabled users
  • Robotics for neurodivergent populations
• Methods and Approaches:
  • Ethical user-centred design paradigms
  • Participatory and co-design methodologies
  • Interdisciplinary approaches to equitable robotics
  • Impact evaluation in real-world contexts
  • Policy and sustainability aspects of robotics for wellbeing

Overall, we aim to create a space for learning and open discussion, with the goal of influencing future leaders working in industry, academia, and policy on robotics projects whose awareness and attention for these considerations are critical.