WASP-HS

AI for Humanity and Society 2026
2026-11-10 12:00 - 2026-11-11 12:15 (Europe/Stockholm)
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Robots and Autonomous Systems in Everyday Life

How can we live amidst and with robots? How do they impact human work and our understanding of social relationships and societal values? Complex organizational work is needed to make robot fleets run smoothly and bring forward societal concerns about care, safety and responsibility. Join the WASP-HS conference AI for Humanity and Society 2026 themed “Robots and Autonomous Systems in Everyday Life”.
Robots and autonomous systems have left the laboratories and are now entering homes, schools, hospitals and public spaces. They are becoming part of everyday life. Being a material and mobile manifestation of artificial intelligence, robots raise new questions about autonomy and agency in relationships with individuals.
This year’s conference, Robots and Autonomous Systems in Everyday Life, will explore how individuals, organizations, and societies are impacted when robots enter our daily life, shedding light on how humans work to make autonomous systems at home in the world. WASP-HS welcomes researchers, industry leaders, policymakers, and civil society to come together to make sense of emerging developments and to discuss agendas for humane futures with autonomous systems and AI. Through panels, keynotes and an interactive reception, we will engage with topics such as coordination and interaction with robots as a form of embodied AI, robots in education, regulatory and policy issues related to autonomous systems, as well as the roles robots and autonomous systems may play in care and crisis.
The WASP-HS AI for Humanity and Society 2026 conference fosters human-centered perspectives on robots and autonomous systems, offering a space to examine emerging challenges and to jointly imagine possible futures — where robots and autonomous systems can foster human relationships, contribute to inclusive public spaces, and stimulate meaningful work. We warmly welcome you to join us in Linköping at Mjärdevi Science Park (Teknikringen 7) on November 10–11, 2026.

Keynotes

Steve Benford

Dunford Professor of Computer Science, University of Nottingham And UKRI Turing AI World Leading Research Fellow

Janet Vertesi

Associate Professor, Princeton University and Associate Director of the Keller Center for Innovation in Engineering Education

Preliminary Conference Program

Tuesday, November 10
12:00 Registration opens
13:00–13:15 Welcome and introduction
13:15–14:00 Panel 1: Coordinating Human and Robot BodiesModerator: Valentina Fantasia, Lund University
Oskar Lindwall, University of GothenburgJuliene Madureira Ferreira, Tampere University Madeline Balaam, KTH Royal Institute of Technology
14:15–15:00 Panel 2: Educational Robots and AIModerator: Ali Reza Majlesi, Karolinska Institutet
Ginevra Castellano, Uppsala UniversityLinnéa Stenliden, Linköping UniversitySofia Serholt, University of Gothenburg
15:00–15:30 Coffee Break
15:30–16:15 Opening Keynote: Steve Benford
16:30–18:30 Interactive Reception

Wednesday, November 11
08:30 Registration opens
09:00–9:15 Welcome and Opening
09:15–10:00 Panel 3: Policy and Regulation of RobotsModerator: Stefan Larsson, Lund University
Cilli Sobiech, Swedish National Road and Transport Research InstituteBarry Brown, University of Copenhagen & Stockholm UniversityEduard Fosch-Villaronga, Leiden UniversityMartin Ebers, WASP-HS Guest Professor, Örebro University
10:00–10:15 Coffee Break
10:30–11.15 Panel 4: Robots and AI in Care and CrisisModerator: Helena Lindgren, Co-Director of WASP-HS, Umeå University
11:15-12:00 Closing Keynote: Janet Vertesi
12:00-12:15 Closing and announcement of 2027 conference

Registration
Registration opens September 8.

Conference Chairs

Hannah Pelikan

Assistant Professor at Linköping University and a Pro Futura Scientia Fellow at the Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study.

Airi Lampinen

Associate Professor in Human–Computer Interaction at the Department of Computer and Systems Sciences at Stockholm University.
