Photo of Sam Thellman

Sam Thellman

Assistant Professor

I am a researcher in cognitive science with a focus on human-robot interaction.

My research

What does the robot perceive, know, and desire? My research focuses on people´s everyday psychological interpretations of AI systems such as self-driving vehicles and humanoid robots.

We often lack a deeper technical understanding of the artificial intelligent systems that we encounter in our daily lives. Instead, we reason about them based on assumptions about what knowledge they possess and what they want to achieve. In my research, I explore the conditions for interacting with various AI systems based on such everyday psychological assumptions. In doing so, my research contributes to knowledge about our cognition in social interaction with AI.

Two persons holding a robot head that lights up green

Publications

2024

Birgitta Thorslund, Sam Thellman, Victor Nyberg, H. Selander (2024) Simulator-based driving test prescreening as a complement to driver testing - Toward safer and more risk-aware drivers Accident Analysis and Prevention, Vol. 194, Article 107335 Continue to DOI

2023

Franziska Babel, Sam Thellman, Tom Ziemke (2023) Cyclists' Perception of Automated Shuttle Buses in Shared Spaces PROCEEDINGS OF THE 11TH CONFERENCE ON HUMAN-AGENT INTERACTION, HAI 2023, p. 467-469 Continue to DOI
Franziska Babel, Philipp Hock, Sam Thellman, Tom Ziemke (2023) Cars As Social Agents (CarSA): A Perspective Shift in Human-Vehicle Interaction PROCEEDINGS OF THE 11TH CONFERENCE ON HUMAN-AGENT INTERACTION, HAI 2023, p. 498-499 Continue to DOI
Sam Thellman, Olle Ageskar, Ida Allander, Markus Degerstedt, Olof Hyland, Philip Nguyen, Hilda Naas, Nils Wickman, Tom Ziemke (2023) A Survey of Attributions and Preferences Regarding Higher-Order Mental States in Artificial Agents PROCEEDINGS OF THE 11TH CONFERENCE ON HUMAN-AGENT INTERACTION, HAI 2023, p. 97-104 Continue to DOI
Sam Thellman, Erik Marsja, Anna Anund, Tom Ziemke (2023) Will It Yield: Expectations on Automated Shuttle Bus Interactions With Pedestrians and Bicyclists HRI '23: Companion of the 2023 ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction, p. 292-296 Continue to DOI

Teaching

I am Program chair of the Bachelor's programme in Cognitive Science, and course coordinator and teacher on the following courses:

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Bachelor's Programme in Cognitive Science, 180 credits

This programme is not available in English.

About the Division

Colleagues at HCS

About the Department