The 22nd annual ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI 2027) has opened the call for submissions for its Student Design Competition (SDC), inviting student teams from around the world to present original human-robot interaction design work to an audience of researchers, practitioners, and judges.
The competition, which will be held in Santa Clara, California, USA, during the conference from 8–12 March 2027, is themed “Robots in Public Spaces“.
The goal of the SDC is to showcase design thinking in HRI: the quality of the interaction design, the clarity of the rationale behind design decisions, and serious engagement with the realities of deploying robots among people.
Submissions are student projects and are not expected to meet the rigor bar of full papers; what is expected is serious design thinking.
Projects may take the form of physical robot systems (new platforms or modified commercial platforms), software-only systems (conversational agents, coordination systems, or interfaces mediating human-robot encounters), interaction concepts and scenarios (demonstrated through enactment, video prototyping, or Wizard-of-Oz techniques), and spatial and service design concepts addressing how robots, people, and public environments are configured around one another. Low-fidelity or puppeted (“Wizard-of-Oz”) robots are acceptable during demonstration as long as this is disclosed, and expensive hardware is not required – a rigorous, well-argued software or conceptual design can win.
Competition Theme
The 2027 theme, “Robots in Public Spaces“, is interpreted broadly, covering physical public and quasi-public environments such as sidewalks, plazas and parks, museums and libraries, airports and train stations, hospital lobbies, elderly-care facilities, and other shared institutional spaces. A submission is considered “on theme” when the interaction is situated in a specific, named public setting, the design accounts for more than one party (intended users and bystanders, passers-by, staff, or other stakeholders), key design choices exist because the setting is public, and the submission engages at least one real-world complication of the setting, such as crowding, noise, uninvited interaction, accessibility, diverse norms, consent, or maintenance.
Competition Categories
The call lists the following accepted project formats:
- Physical robot systems – new platforms built from scratch, or existing/commercial platforms where the design contribution is a modification, a new interaction, or software-based behavior.
- Software-only systems – e.g., conversational agents, coordination systems, or interfaces mediating human-robot encounters in shared spaces.
- Interaction concepts and scenarios – well-developed interaction designs demonstrated through enactment, video prototyping, Wizard-of-Oz techniques, or similar methods.
- Spatial and service design concepts – designs addressing how robots, people, and public environments are configured around one another.
Eligibility
- Student teams from any discipline – undergraduate through PhD – are eligible; multidisciplinary teams are encouraged.
- Team size: 2-5 students; members may be at different institutions, and no student may be on more than one team.
- Institutional entries: no limit per institution; teams from many different institutions will be prioritized in the showcase to foster diversity.
- Faculty involvement: faculty advisors may appear as co-authors, but the project must be student-led, with student contributors listed first.
- Projects do not need to be finished at the submission deadline, provided the paper describes the final deliverable concretely and the remaining work is realistic before the camera-ready deadline.
Prizes
Accepted teams compete for the following awards, selected during the showcase at the conference:
- Best Design Award — selected by the judging panel using the published rubric.
- Public Spaces Award — for the submission that most deeply engages the theme.
- People’s Choice Award — selected by conference attendees by open vote during the showcase.
At least one member of each accepted team must register for and attend HRI 2027 in person to present on the day of the SDC showcase.
Please check the official website for further information.
No Entry Fee!
It's free to enter.
