April 20-21, 2026 | Faculdade de Ciencias, University of Lisbon, Portugal
A 2-day hands-on workshop on integrating design perspectives into HCI/HRI research.
Workshop Website | Sign Up | Robot Building Instructions
Open to researchers, students, and practitioners at all levels -- no prior design or robotics experience required.
This workshop focuses on design as a tool for inquiry: how to structure studies, build prototypes, and ask the right questions to understand what users truly need. Participants will get hands-on experience building a robot and customizing it to explore their own research question.
The workshop emphasizes that users are experts in their own lives; our role as researchers is to design the right inquiries and tools to reveal insights about human needs and behaviors.
With Prof. Wendy Ju
- How to run a design-forward HCI/HRI lab
- Design theory and its applications in research
- The design process: asking the right questions
- Users as experts: designing studies that reveal true needs
- Sustainable and purposeful lab practices
- HRI/HCI Research Lightning Talks
- Identify a research question or human problem
- Build a robot using the TinyBot kit
- Design a robot or interface to explore your question
- Develop purpose-driven prototypes as research tools
- Finalize designs and prototypes
- Present research questions and proposed approaches
- Isabel Neto -- Assistant Professor, Faculdade de Ciencias, University of Lisbon
- Maria Teresa Parreira -- PhD Candidate, Cornell University
- Ilan Mandel -- PhD Candidate, Cornell University
- Wendy Ju -- Associate Professor, Cornell University
See LICENSE for details.