The 11th Furhat Conference on Social Robotics

Social Intelligence and Multi-Party Interaction in Social Robotics

Thursday, October 22nd 2026
CEST 16:00 - 18:00 (EDT 10:00 - 12:00)
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Welcome to the 11th Furhat Conference on Social Robotics

We're bringing the HRI community together again on October 22 for two hours of research talks, live discussions, and demos! This edition explores Social Intelligence and Multi-Party Interaction in Social Robotics, from how robots express emotions and respond to human behavior to the challenges of navigating conversations with multiple people.
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We'll also be sharing one of the biggest updates to the Furhat platform yet, with new tools and capabilities designed for HRI research. Join us to see what's coming, hear directly from the researchers shaping the field, and find out how you can get involved in testing our upcoming tools.The conference will take place on Thursday, October 22nd at 4:00-6:00 PM CET (10:00-12:00 PM EDT).
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About the conference

For its 10th edition, the Furhat Conference focuses on what happens when robots are placed in everyday contexts and what challenges and opportunities emerge outside the lab. Bringing together researchers and practitioners, the conference will highlight recent studies in areas such as healthcare, education, group interaction, and applied training systems. Through these perspectives, we want to reflect on how real-world deployment is shaping the way social robots are designed, studied, and evaluated.

Join us on the 26th of May at 4:00-6:00 PM CEST (10:00-12:00 AM EST) for a focused discussion on the next phase of human–robot interaction grounded in practice, informed by research, and centered on real interaction.

Speakers

We bring you experts from leading global research institutions in the field of HRI

Ali Reza Majlesi

Social Intelligence in Action: What Happens When a Robot Turns Its Head?

an Associate Professor and Senior Lecturer at Karolinska Institutet

His projects encompass multilingual, multicultural contexts such as classrooms, medical interactions, care settings, focusing both on human-human, as well as human-robot interactions. With more than 1,000 academic citations and extensive work on conversational AI, dementia communication, multilingual interaction, and educational robotics, he brings a uniquely human-centered perspective to the future of social robotics.

Giulio Antonio Abbo

Who’s Talking, Who’s Next? Lessons from Building a Conversational Robot Beyond the One-on-One

a PhD student in Computer Science and Engineering at Ghent University and researcher at IDLab (imec)

His work focuses on human-robot interaction and dialogue systems, with an interest in contextual understanding, cognitive architectures, and value alignment. His research spans AI, robotics, and human-centred design, aiming to create more meaningful and ethical interactions between humans and machines.

Conference agenda

16:00
10 minutes
Opening Remarks
Andreas Naoum (Moderator)  and Samer Al Moubayed
16:10
15 minutes
Designing Emotions for Social Robots: From Emotions in Interaction to Supporting Emotion Knowledge
Moojan Ghafurian 10min presentation + 5min Q&A
16:25
15 minutes
Who’s Talking, Who’s Next? Lessons from Building a Conversational Robot Beyond the One-on-One
Giulio Antonio Abbo 10 min presentation + 5min Q&A
16:40
15 minutes
Social Intelligence in Action: What Happens When a Robot Turns Its Head?
Ali Reza Majlesi, 10 min presentation + 5min Q&A
16:55
5 minutes
Break
17:00
15 minutes
Investigating Perceived Human-Likeness and Trust in Social Robots
Isabel Gillert, 10 min presentation + 5min Q&A
17:15
10 minutes
Upcoming Furhat 3.0 update
Oscar Klock, Gabriel Skantze
17:25
5 minutes
Research Lab
Oscar Klock, Jessica Wenninger
17:30
5 minutes
Furhat.io and Furhat Mobile App
Oscar Klock
17:35
5 minutes
Closing Remarks
Conference Records

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