Communication in Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) often focuses on linguistic exchanges, with spoken dialogue providing a natural way for people to interact with robots. While direct verbal interaction can reduce barriers compared to other forms of interaction (e.g., text- or touch-based interfaces), it may also exclude users with speech, language, or cognitive differences, and they may not generalize well across cultures and contexts. Non-linguistic forms of communication, including non-verbal voice interactions and extra-linguistic signals (e.g., gesture, gaze, facial expressions, posture), offer complementary pathways that can enable more inclusive, accessible, and universal interactions. This workshop explores how non-linguistic communication can shape effective human-robot communication and collaboration. We aim to bring together researchers from HRI, conversational AI, linguistics, psychology, and accessibility studies to discuss opportunities, challenges, and design practices for integrating such features. The workshop seeks to advance inclusive design principles, bridge disciplines, and highlight future research directions on communication strategies that empower diverse users in their interactions with robots.

Feeling socially connected is important for personal well-being, yet many older adults report increasing loneliness and decreasing social connections. We explored how robots and their behaviors can support group interactions and foster social participation among older adults in a community center setting over repeated interactions. We developed a semi-autonomous collaborative and discussion-based variant of the game "With Other Words" for groups of three to four older adults and two robots. A facilitator robot (Furhat) mediated discussions using gaze and verbal support, while a guesser robot (Misty) attempted to guess the words that group members described 'with other words'. We invited 34 older adults aged 65+ to play the game in groups of three or four, three times over two to five weeks. An explorative mixed-method analysis, combining quantitative metrics with Ethnomethodological Conversation Analysis (EMCA), shows that robot gaze and verbal behaviors as well as negotiations around "wrangling" the guesser robot encouraged participation in the game. Further, verbal supporting behaviors elicited shared laughter but also led to breakdowns. While no direct significant improvement in social connectedness was observed, this work contributes to our understanding of how robot behaviors might shape interactions among older adults.

Demonstrations that include virtual reality (VR) technologies are becoming increasingly common in research contexts. All included roles within a demonstration experience (facilitators, participants, and spectators) take up different responsibilities to be able to run through a VR demonstration as intended. VR head-mounted displays (HMDs) are particularly difficult to demonstrate with considering the participant’s restricted vision of their surroundings and the facilitator. There is limited HCI research that has analyzed interactions between the roles of a demonstrations when using VR HMDs. Therefore, this study explores how these roles address the challenges that arise during VR demonstrations. With a video-analytic approach, we gathered data from live demonstrations from an ACM conference in 2024. To articulate the data gathered, we encompass the concepts of breakdown and repair, alignment and common ground, and progressivity. Our findings highlight five forms of alignment work: procedural, technological, conversational, visual, and physical alignment, as well as preemptive repurposed conversational repair strategies. This paper’s main contribution is the forms of alignment that provide discourse tools for analyzing alignment work interactions and understanding them in the context of VR demonstrations. Additionally, this research provides actionable guidelines aiding VR-experience organizers as a way to limit breakdowns and arrested progressivity in their demonstrations, applicable in context from lab-based experiments to public exhibitions. These guidelines include to inform sequentiality, inform about differences in interactions and technologies, preempt physical surroundings, and negotiate touch. We conclude by encouraging future research to explore implications of designing for interactions and designing for specific demonstration roles.

Delta Fleet AI is a speculative VR demo exploring the hidden human labor behind autonomous mobility systems. Set in a future where autonomous vehicles rely on remote human "RoadRunners"to manage edge cases, users engage in high-stakes scenarios including route selection, manual driving, and obstacle disambiguation. Framed as a corporate onboarding simulation, the experience critiques the myth of full autonomy and exposes the cognitive and emotional demands placed on undervalued human operators. Built for MetaQuest 3, the project showcases VR's potential for provocative speculative design, inviting reflection on automation, labor, and the ethics of human-autonomy teaming.

Immersive technologies like Mixed Reality (MR) are increasingly explored to support urban monitoring tasks as they may replace physical screens with digital content placed spatially in a room and rendered via headsets. Moreover, they enable new interactions techniques, such as hand and gaze input. However, the selection of moving targets, a crucial task when monitoring urban maps in immersive systems, remains unexplored. We study how two selection techniques (mid-air poke vs. gaze-pinch) influence task performance and subjective experience when selecting moving targets in MR virtual screens within arm's reach. We conducted a user study (N=12) to analyze how three variables (selection technique, data card style, and number of targets) influence task performance and subjective experience in a simulated MR monitoring platform for truck fleet management. Results showed that pinch is preferred for lower task completion times but yields a higher physical workload than gaze-pinch. Our work may help the design when adapting desktop tasks involving low user motion but frequent interaction with virtual elements into MR tasks.

Digital Repertoires explores the intersection between ageing and technology, presenting the concept of ‘digital repertoire’ as a powerful tool for researchers across disciplines such as anthropology, sociology, gerontology, public policy, communication studies and design. This book offers new theoretical and empirical insights, and highlights the diverse ways in which older adults engage with digital technologies across five continents. With studies from Australia, Brazil, Finland, Japan, the Philippines and Sweden, the book provides a global and cross-cultural analysis on a pressing issue.

Internet of Things (IoT) devices are becoming more and more common in homes, making the security and privacy of these increasingly important. To investigate how the users’ security and privacy practices can be improved, it is necessary to understand the current everyday practices and what impacts these. In an interview study, this paper reveals that users’ practices are primarily influenced by the convenience offered by the IoT device, and the motivation and the effort required from the user to make themselves aware of the security requirements and enact change within their IoT ecosystem.

This chapter explores extended reality (XR) technologies, focusing on a framework for immersive experience design across virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and mixed reality (MR). Central to the chapter is the detailed exploration of a multi-layered framework designed to enhance the creation and evaluation of XR experiences. This framework is segmented into five crucial layers: Conceptual, visual, data, interactivity, and interoperability. The conceptual layer outlines the strategic vision and objectives, aligning the technology with user needs. The visual layer enriches this foundation with high-fidelity sensory inputs to maximise realism and immersion. The data layer leverages analytics to personalise the experience, adapting dynamically to user interactions and environmental changes. The interactivity layer focuses on creating intuitive user engagements through advanced interaction technologies. Lastly, the interoperability layer ensures that XR applications function seamlessly across various platforms and devices, facilitating a cohesive user experience. Illustrated through practical industry case studies, the framework demonstrates its applicability in real-world settings, emphasising its role in developing engaging, user-centric XR applications. The chapter underscores the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration in advancing XR technologies to meet the evolving demands of users and integrate smoothly into the broader digital ecosystem.

As conversational user interfaces (CUIs) evolve, trust and identity challenges become increasingly pronounced. The identities of CUIs are multifaceted, incorporating individual names like Siri or Alexa, the companies behind them like Apple or Amazon, and various attributes, e.g., race, gender, and class, as perceived by people and/or as designed into these CUIs. Identity is also encoded in the embodiment, be it as an abstract animation on a watch, an avatar in virtual reality, or a humanoid robot, as well as in the backstory designers give these agents. But, if identity is fragmented, e.g., across multiple physical forms, if and how users can establish trust becomes difficult to address. Drawing from diverse fields including ethics, design, and engineering, we explore the hurdles posed by ambiguous identities. A dynamic embodiment of a CUI across multiple devices presents technical complexities, and importantly, it raises ethical dilemmas surrounding trust. In this workshop, we aim to synthesize research goals and methods to further probe the intricacies of identity fragmentation and its implications for user trust in CUIs. To pursue a collaborative debate, we formulate that trust and identity suffer from the chicken or egg dilemma; should issues surrounding identity be resolved first before trust can even be conceived to be possible between humans and CUIs? Can users truly trust a CUI that lacks a consistent and transparent identity, and would that trust be different for different embodiments and platforms? We consider that trust itself perhaps should be questioned given that the issues surrounding identity are not resolved. We additionally discuss whether a uniform identity across all interfaces is conducive to user trust, or whether the adoption of distinct personas on disparate platforms is more effective in engendering user trust.

The concept of ‘bodywork´ refers to the work individuals undertake on their own bodies and the bodies of others. One aspect is attending to bodily needs, which is often overlooked in the workplace and HCI/CSCW research on work practices. Yet, this labour can be a significant barrier to work, consequential to work, and prone to spill over into other aspects of life. We present three empirical cases of bodywork: gig-based food delivery, shift work in hospitals and bars, and office-based knowledge work. We describe what attending to bodily needs at work entails and illustrate tactics employed so that work can be carried on, even when the body (or technology optimising it) breaks down. Arguing that all systems are bodily systems, we conclude with a call to acknowledge the centrality of bodies in all work and the roles technologies can play in supporting or constraining bodywork differently for different workers.