About us

FoRMA1: Foundation Models in the Ro-Man Age - Responsible Development for Social Robotics is a workshop held in conjunction with the 35th IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN 2026). It explores the intersection of foundation models and social robotics, focusing on safety, embodiment, and interdisciplinary approaches. The workshop accepts extended abstracts (2-3 pages) for lightning talks, which will not be published in the main proceedings but will be hosted on a repository.

Important Dates

Wed, Jun 3, 2026
Submission deadline

Call For Paper

Ethics
Social robotics
Foundation models
Vulnerable populations
Embodiment and Foundation Models
Unique capabilities and challenges for foundation models in physically embodied agents
Novel failure modes introduced by embodiment
Physical presence influence on user trust, perception, and susceptibility to model limitations
How foundation models reshape human-robot relational dynamics
Safety Evaluations and Benchmarking
Sycophancy, boundary maintenance, and proactive redirection in social robot interactions
LLM safety evaluations to assess risk of physical or psychological harm in embodied contexts
Gender, racial, or cultural biases embedded in foundation models used for social robots
Evaluation approaches that account for social embodied context
Age-appropriate language and interactions
Accessibility in embodied LLMs for users with disabilities
Minority languages, multiculturalism, and code-switching
Interdisciplinary Methods and Approaches
Evaluation metric co-design
Impact of emerging AI regulations on the development and deployment of social robots
Impact evaluation in real-world contexts
Policy and sustainability aspects

We invite authors to submit their contributions as extended abstracts. Extended abstracts can take the traditional form of approaching a topic of interest to the workshop and research. We are also interested in submission on study designs (either at conceptualisation, ongoing or submitted) as an opportunity to reflect on the usage of foundation models. The accepted submissions will be presented as lightning talks during the workshop.