[meetings] [CFP] Vizij: HRI 2026 Workshop+Tutorial on Expressive Robot Faces

[Ross Mead]

Participant support for this HRI 2026 workshop+tutorial is still available (up to $1,500 per eligible participant)! Apply by February 12, 2026!

See below for more details.

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CALL FOR PAPERS

• What: Vizij: HRI 2026 Workshop+Tutorial on Expressive Robot Faces

• When: March 16, 2026 (full-day workshop+tutorial)

• Where: Edinburgh, Scotland, UK (HRI 2026)

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LINKS

• Website: https://vizij.ai/events/hri-2026-tutorial 

• Intent to Participate / Participant Support Request: https://forms.gle/7TqvXVRTAuoNQLeR9

• Paper Submission: https://easychair.org/my2/conference?conf=vizijhri2026 

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IMPORTANT DATES

• Participant Support Request Deadline: January 21st, 2026 Extended to February 12th, 2026

• Early Paper Submission Deadline: January 21st, 2026

• Early Paper Notification Date: January 28th, 2026

• Early Bird Conference Registration Deadline: January 31st, 2026

• Paper Submission Deadline: February 12th, 2026

• Paper Notification Date: February 19th, 2026

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WHAT IS “VIZIJ”?

Vizij (https://vizij.ai) is a community-driven, open-source software platform/ecosystem for designing, animating, and deploying rendered robot faces (“visages”) developed to address existing fragmentation in rendered robot face infrastructure. Vizij is currently used and developed by Semio Community (https://semio.community), Quori (https://quori.org), and Peerbots (https://peerbots.org), with ongoing community efforts to support for other popular robot platforms.

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WORKSHOP+TUTORIAL @ HRI 2026

As Vizij is an open source platform and ecosystem, we are actively expanding our community, including users, contributors, and partners. HRI is the premier venue for researchers with expertise on effective and expressive social robot interaction via the face. We are hosting a workshop and tutorial hybrid (the first of its kind) in which we will (1) engage with and learn from the HRI research community, and (2) give back through a hands-on tutorial of the Vizij platform tailored to HRI researchers. The morning, half-day workshop component gathers experts on HRI particularly interested in robot facial animation and expression (e.g., gaze, emotion, and lip synchronization). The afternoon, half-day tutorial component is specifically designed for HRI researchers interested in simplifying, speeding up, and easing replicability of their studies that involve robot faces.

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WORKSHOP TOPICS

We are inviting researchers to submit short (2-4 pages) or full (6-8 pages) papers discussing:

1. the role, rationale, and intention for robot faces; 

2. emotion and gaze in human-robot interaction (HRI); 

3. robot and virtual character animation for HRI; or

4. experiences with expressive robot faces in practice.

Please follow the HRI conference submission formatting guidelines at https://humanrobotinteraction.org/2026/full-papers

(Anonymization of submissions is optional.)

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TUTORIAL ACTIVITIES

Following the half-day workshop portion of the full-day session, we are inviting participants to learn to design, animate, and deploy rendered robot faces in a hands-on tutorial. Tutorial activities will include:

1. Getting started with Face Design & Control

1. Hello Face: getting started importing, exporting, and controlling a robot face.

2. Renderer Data Model: The Vizij renderer, underlying data, and how that data can be modified

3. Rigging: Standard and custom control rigs in Vizij

2. Face Animation, Integration, and Deployment

1. Now We’re Talking: integrating a robot face with a real time conversation engine.

2. Animations: defining, saving, and loading animations.

3. Deployment: Going from your computer to your robot.

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PARTICIPANT SUPPORT

Participant support is available (up to $1,500 per eligible participant) thanks to the NSF-funded Quori project (https://quori.org)! We will be tailoring activities to attendees’ robot(s) and research interests. Please complete this form by January 21st, 2026 to inform the organizing team about your interest in robot faces and/or request participant support: https://forms.gle/7TqvXVRTAuoNQLeR9

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ORGANIZERS

• Saad Elbeleidy (Peerbots)

• Andrew Schoen (Semio)

• Christopher Birmingham (Semio)

• Tiago Ribeiro (Semio)

• Victor Paléologue (Semio)

• Douglas Dooley (Semio)

• Ross Mead (Semio)

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Ross Mead, PhD

Founder and CEO

ro...@semio.ai

+1 (618) 696-2600