(Apologies for cross-posting.) Dear colleagues, We are pleased to announce that the first international workshop “Wanting What is Needed: From Homeostatic Control to Adaptive Behavior” will be held on October 19th in Berlin, Germany, as part of SAB 2026. Workshop website: https://wwin-workshop.github.io/sab2026 ====================================== Aims of the workshop ====================================== Classical reinforcement learning and cognitive models often begin with externally specified rewards. Biological organisms, by contrast, are autonomous learning agents whose behavior is constrained by the need to sustain their own viability. This workshop asks how internal physiological regulation can ground decision-making, value formation and motivated behavior. We aim to foster a shared interdisciplinary conversation across machine learning, artificial intelligence, robotics, neuroscience, biology, physiology, ethology and control theory. The goal is to clarify how homeostatic and allostatic regulation can contribute to adaptive behavior in both biological organisms and artificial agents. ====================================== Invited speakers ====================================== * Lilian A. Weber (Osnabrück University) * Lola Cañamero (CY Cergy Paris University) * Antonio Damasio (University of Southern California, online) ====================================== Extended abstracts for lightning talks and posters ====================================== * Extended abstracts of up to 3 pages (main text) * References, appendices, and acknowledgements are not included in this limit * Springer LNCS style (template available on the workshop website) Keywords: Homeostasis, Allostasis, Intrinsic needs, Value formation, Motivated behavior, Embodied robotics, Adaptive agents, Control theory, Interoception, Internal states ====================================== Important dates ====================================== * Extended Abstract Submission Deadline: August 5, 2026 * Notification of Acceptance: August 19, 2026 * Workshop Date: October 19, 2026 (afternoon) Best regards, Naoto Yoshida (Kyoto University) On behalf of the organizing committee: Boris Gutkin (École Normale Supérieure) Henning Sprekeler (Technical University of Berlin) Louis L’Haridon (ENSEA / CNRS) Lola Cañamero (CY Cergy Paris University) Ismael T. Freire (Sorbonne University) Mehdi Khamassi (Sorbonne University) --- Naoto Yoshida, PhD Program-Specific Researcher (Symbol Emergence Systems for Qualia Structures) Symbol Emergence Systems Lab. Graduate School of Informatics Research Bldg. 7 Kyoto University Yoshida-Honmachi, Sakyou-Ku, Kyoto, Japan. yoshida.naoto.8x@kyoto-u.ac.jp <mailto:yoshida.naoto.8x@kyoto-u.ac.jp> X: @movingsloth webpage: https://sites.google.com/view/movingsloth