The near future of children's robotics

Robotics is a multidisciplinary and highly innovative field. Recently, multiple and often minimally connected sub - communities of child - robot interaction have started to emerge , variously focusing on the design issues , engineering, and applications of robotic platforms and toolkits . Despite increasing public interest in robots, including robots for children, child - robot interaction research remains highly fragmented and lacks regular cross - disciplin ary venue s for discussion and dissemination . This workshop will bring together researchers with diverse scientific backgrounds . It will serve as a venue in which to reflect on the current circumstances in which child - robot research is conducted, articulate emerging and “near future” challenges, and discuss actions and tools with which to meet those challenges and consolidate the field.