We Robot 2026 April 23 – until 25, 2026

We Robot is an interdisciplinary, peer-reviewed conference that brings together leading scholars and practitioners to discuss legal, ethical and policy implications of robots and other emergent digital technologies. Since its inception in 2012, the conference has fostered dynamic conversations regarding robot theory, design, ethics and development. We Robot has been hosted in Yale, Stanford, Ottawa, Seattle, Miami, Boston and Windsor (CA) in the past.

Recognized as one of North America’s most exciting interdisciplinary conferences on the societal implications of robotics, We Robot is now expanding to Europe, marking a significant step toward international collaboration and practical solidarity in the academic world. We Robot 2026 in Berlin wants to encourage the exchange of diverse perspectives and academic insights from all around the world. It wants to discuss pathways towards a responsible, accessible and trustworthy use of technology for the common good.

We Robot 2026 will create an international platform to discuss current and future AI and robotics policy, especially at a time when legal frameworks are evolving in different directions around the world. A major focus of the 2026 edition will be a comparative analysis of different approaches to regulation, with the goal of fostering mutual learning and dialogue.

The conference seeks to bring together scientists, policymakers, business leaders, and the broader expert community to discuss shared strategies for managing the rapid advancements in robotics and AI.

Stay tuned about all news and updates on our website:

Here is the preliminary itinerary for the conference. We will finalise it after all papers have been submitted by end of March.

CONFERENCE PROGRAMME

We are excited to announce the preliminary programme for the 14th annual We Robot Conference to be held on April 24 and 25, 2026, with a pre-conference workshop on April 23, 2026. The final conference programme will be available on March 19, 2026, following the final paper submission deadline.

Pre-Conference Workshop – 23rd April 2026 (Thursday)

Location: Wikimedia Deutschland

09:00-10:30 | Interdisciplinary Work in Action | A Panel on AI Companion
Chair: Martin Ebers, RAILS
· Claire Boine, European University Institute
· Cristina Poncibò, University of Turin
· Sue Anne Teo, Lund University
· Fumio Shimpo, Keio University

10:30-11:00 | Break and "Academic Speed-Dating

11:00-12:00 | Robot Literacy - Interactive workshop
Gizem Gültekin-Várkonyi, University of Szeged

12:00-13.30 | Lunch

13.30-15.00 | Intro to Robot Ethics
Institute for Ethics in Technology, Hamburg University of Technology

16.00 | Guided tour at Deutsches Technikmuseum

Main Conference – 24th and 25th April 2026 (Friday & Saturday)

Location: buM – Place for Solidarity

Across two enriching days, the conference programme is structured around individual paper presentations and panel discussions, designed to facilitate meaningful dialogue and foster engagement across disciplinary boundaries. And because the best conversations don’t always happen in the conference room, join us for the conference dinner on the 24th where the energy, ideas, and good company keep flowing long into the evening.

Conference Day 1 - Friday, 24th April 2026

09:00-09:30 | Welcome

09:30-10:30 | Paper Session
From Limited Risk to Prohibited Use: Mapping the EU AI Act’s Risk Framework onto Robotic Public Safety Systems
Author: Irmak Erdogan (KU Leuven Centre for IT & IP Law)
Discussant: Hannah Ruschemeier (University of Osnabrueck)

10:30-11:00 | Break

11:00-13:00 | Panel: Reimagining Accountability: Who Answers When Systems Fail?
Discussant: Stanisław Tosza (University of Luxembourg)

Intention, But Hybrid: A New Test for Posthuman Agents
Author: Janko Munjić (Appellate Court in Kragujevac; Faculty of Law, University of Kragujevac

AI Risk Bonds: A Market-Based Mechanism for Governing Liability
Authors: Gleb Papyshev (Lingnan University), Sara Migliorini (University of Macau) and Keith Jin Deng Chan (The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology)

Curated Information Frameworks: Contextual Transparency and Governance for Dynamic AI
Author: Emily LaRosa (Michigan State University)

13:00-14:00 | Lunch

14:00-15:00 | Paper Session
The New Three Laws of Robotics: Field-Derived Ethics for Human-Robot Coexistence
Authors: Tomomi Ota (Shiga University) and Rikiya Yamamoto (Robot Friendly Project)
Discussant: AJung Moon (McGill University)

15:00-15:30 | Break

15:30-17:30 | Panel: Building Systems That Last: Law, Technology, and Long-Term Thinking

Discussant: Helena Webb (University of Nottingham)

The Charge of Green Robots: From Environmental Robot Ethics to an Environmental Rule of Law for Robotics
Authors: Jacopo Ciani, Ugo Pagallo, Massimo Durante and Ludovica Paseri (Department of Law, University of Turin)

When Right to Repair Meets AI: Reinterpreting the Right to Repair through Individuation
Author: Ryota Akasaka (The University of Osaka)

Robotic Imposters with Human Helpers: An anthropologically informed study of sociotechnical imaginaries around social robots in staged and unstaged settings in Japan
Authors: Elsa Concas (Stockholm University), Laetitia Tanqueray (Department of Technology and Society, Lund University) and Stefan Larsson (Department of Technology and Society, Lund University)

19:00 | Conference Dinner and Robot Trivia | Art & Seele, Donaustraße 106, 12043 Berlin

Conference Day 2 - Saturday, 25th April 2026

09:30-10:30 | Paper Session

Rethinking Robot Ownership: Comparing Public, Corporate, and Private Ownership Models
Authors: Isaac Sheidlower, Tomo Lazovich, Harini Suresh, and Serena Booth (Brown University)

Discussant: Ryan Calo (Tech Policy Lab)

10:30-11:00 | Break

11:00-13:00 | Panel: AI Safety and assurance: Technological foundations, standards and audits

Shadows Work & Protocols: A Contingent Case for Negligence in Agentic AI
Authors: Veronica Paternolli (University of Verona) and Ryan Calo (University of Washington)

Revealing AI’s Latent Rulebook
Authors: David Atkinson (Georgetown) and Paul Ohm (Georgetown Law)

A Scoping Review of System Integration Audits: Towards a New Class of Artificial Intelligence Evaluation
Authors: Leah Davis (McGill University), Ajung Moon (McGill University) and Dominic Martin (Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM))

Discussant: Woodrow Hartzog (Boston University)

13:00-14:00 | Lunch

14:00-15:00 | Paper Session
From Rejection to Regulation: Mapping the Landscape of AI Resistance
Authors: Ayse Gizem Yasar (École normale supérieure Paris) and Can Simsek (Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society)

Discussant: Vance Ricks (Northwestern University)

15:00-15:30 | Break

15:30-17:30 | Panel: Deep Fakes and Deeper Problems: AI’s Problem with Nuances

Discussant: Neil Richards

LLMs and the Collapse of Legal Indeterminacy
Author: Shira Gur-Arieh (Harvard Law School)

How Much Is My Voice Worth to an Algorithm? Synthetic Voices, Embodied Agents, and the Right to Freedom from Vocal Identity Confusion
Author: Maddalena Castellani (Attorney-at-law and Independent Researcher)

15:30-17:30 | Best Paper Award and End of Conference

19:00 | Informal Get-Together after the conference, location TBC.