Interview with Amar Halilovic: Explainable AI for robotics

On this interview collection, we’re assembly a few of the AAAI/SIGAI Doctoral Consortium contributors to seek out out extra about their analysis. The Doctoral Consortium gives a possibility for a gaggle of PhD college students to debate and discover their analysis pursuits and profession aims in an interdisciplinary workshop along with a panel of established researchers. On this newest interview, we hear from Amar Halilovic, a PhD scholar at Ulm College.

Inform us a bit about your PhD – the place are you learning, and what’s the matter of your analysis?

I’m at present a PhD scholar at Ulm College in Germany, the place I deal with explainable AI for robotics. My analysis investigates how robots can generate explanations of their actions in a method that aligns with human preferences and expectations, significantly in navigation duties.

May you give us an summary of the analysis you’ve carried out to this point throughout your PhD?

Up to now, I’ve developed a framework for environmental explanations of robotic actions and selections, particularly when issues go fallacious. I’ve explored black-box and generative approaches for the era of textual and visible explanations. Moreover, I’ve been engaged on planning of various rationalization attributes, corresponding to timing, illustration, period, and so on. These days, I’ve been engaged on strategies for dynamically choosing the right rationalization technique relying on the context and person preferences.

Is there a side of your analysis that has been significantly fascinating?

Sure, I discover it fascinating how individuals interpret robotic habits in another way relying on the urgency or failure context. It’s been particularly rewarding to review how rationalization expectations shift in numerous conditions and the way we are able to tailor rationalization timing and content material accordingly.

What are your plans for constructing in your analysis to this point throughout the PhD – what features will you be investigating subsequent?

Subsequent, I’ll be extending the framework to include real-time adaptation, enabling robots to be taught from person suggestions and modify their explanations on the fly. I’m additionally planning extra person research to validate the effectiveness of those explanations in real-world human-robot interplay settings.

Amar along with his poster on the AAAI/SIGAI Doctoral Consortium at AAAI 2025.

What made you wish to research AI, and, particularly, explainable robotic navigation?

I’ve at all times been within the intersection of people and machines. Throughout my research, I spotted that making AI programs comprehensible isn’t only a technical problem—it’s key to belief and value. Robotic navigation struck me as a very compelling space as a result of selections are spatial and visible, making explanations each difficult and impactful.

What recommendation would you give to somebody considering of doing a PhD within the area?

Decide a subject that genuinely excites you—you’ll be residing with it for a number of years! Additionally, construct a help community of mentors and friends. It’s simple to get misplaced within the technical work, however collaboration and suggestions are very important.

May you inform us an fascinating (non-AI associated) truth about you?

I’ve lived and studied in 4 completely different international locations.

About Amar

Amar is a PhD scholar on the Institute of Synthetic Intelligence of Ulm College in Germany. His analysis focuses on Explainable Synthetic Intelligence (XAI) in Human-Robotic Interplay (HRI), significantly how robots can generate context-sensitive explanations for navigation selections. He combines symbolic planning and machine studying to construct explainable robotic programs that adapt to human preferences and completely different contexts. Earlier than beginning his PhD, he studied Electrical Engineering on the College of Sarajevo in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Laptop Science at Mälardalen College in Västerås, Sweden. Exterior academia, Amar enjoys travelling, images, and exploring connections between expertise and society.