Speculative Design for AI-Enabled Animal-Robot Interaction

The ACI International Conference 2026 (ACI 2026) will be hosted at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland’s FHNW School of Business, Brugg-Windisch campus, in cooperation with the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)’s Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction (SIGCHI). This year’s General Chair is Oliver Bendel, who has been a professor at FHNW since 2009. On December 2, 2026, the first day of the conference, the three-hour morning workshop „Speculative Design for AI-Enabled Animal-Robot Interaction: Exploring Cross-Category Design Dimensions in Multispecies Futures“ will take place in room 6.3A06. Organized by Haruka Kasuga, Masashi Takeshita, Sonia Zhang, Hayate Shimizu, Yuichiro Kasuga, and Dohjin Miyamoto, the workshop will explore possible relationships between animals and robots through speculative design. Participants will examine the needs and values that shape animal-robot encounters, consider ethical questions and potential tensions, and imagine desirable multispecies futures. The workshop takes a cross-category approach, comparing different animal species, robot types, and settings while considering the opportunities and challenges associated with AI-enabled robotic systems. A special guest will be Tilk Kasuga, a Siberian cat with animal-assisted therapy training and experience participating in educational activities, who will attend as the workshop’s Visiting Cat. Further information about the workshop and registration is available at animal-robot-futures-workshop.com/.

Fig.:  Another Siberian cat