PIRC Predictive and Intuitive Robot Companion

Duration:
01.10.2020–30.09.2027

PIRC targets a psychology-inspired computing breakthrough through research combining insight from cognitive psychology with computational intelligence to build models that forecast future events and respond dynamically.

A white robot and a woman adjusting it. Photo.

1113194150 ? Miriam Doerr Martin Frommherz | shutterstock.com

Contact

About the project

The systems will be aware and alert for how to best act given their knowledge about themselves and perception of their environment. Humans anticipate future events more effectively than computers. We combine sensing across multiple modalities with learned knowledge to predict outcomes and choose the best actions. Can we transfer these skills to intelligent systems in human-interactive scenarios?

Artificial intelligence meets cognitive neuropsychology

In PIRC, we will apply our machine learning and robotics expertise, and collaborate with researchers in cognitive psychology. The goal is to apply recent models of human prediction and intuitive action on perception-action loops of future intelligent robot companions.

Our work will allow such robots to adapt and act more seamlessly with their environment than the current technology. We will equip the robots with these new skills and in addition, provide them with the knowledge that users they are interacting with, apply the same mechanisms. This will include mechanisms for adaptive response time from quick and intuitive to slower and well-reasoned. The models will be applied in two robotics applications with potential for very wide impact: physical rehabilitation and home care robot support for older people.

See more information and ROBIN student master projects here.

Participants

Publications

  • Watanabe, Shin; Horn, Geir; T?rresen, Jim & Ellefsen, Kai Olav (2025). Integrating Bilevel Planning and Offline Skill Learning for Enhancing Mobile Manipulation. In Yi, Jingang (Eds.), 2025 IEEE 21st International Conference on Automation Science and Engineering (CASE). Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). ISSN 9798331522476. p. 2275–2280. Full text in Research Archive
  • Moghaddam, Emil Engelstad; Uddin, Md. Zia; Miura, Jun & Torresen, Jim (2025). A Robust Approach for Motion Skill-Based Scene Categorization. In Neri, Filippo (Eds.), Proceedings of the 2025 10th International Conference on Machine Learning Technologies (ICMLT). IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers). ISSN 9798331536725. doi: 10.1109/icmlt65785.2025.11193163. Full text in Research Archive
  • Rolfsjord, Sigmund Johannes Ljosvoll; Fatima, Safia; Arnim, Hugh Alexander von & Baselizadeh, Adel (2025). Multimodal Transfer Learning for Privacy in Human Activity Recognition. In Emilia, Barakova,; Ben, Allouch, Somaya; Kazuhiro, Nakadai, & Goldie, Nejat, (Ed.), Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN) 2025. IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers). p. 15–20. doi: 10.1109/ro-man63969.2025.11217600. Full text in Research Archive
  • Nerg?rd, Katrine Linnea; Ellefsen, Kai Olav & T?rresen, Jim (2025). Fast or Slow: Adaptive Decision Making in Reinforcement Learning with Pre-Trained LLMs. In Ugur, Emre; Sciutti, Alessandra & Rohlfing, Katharina (Ed.), 2025 IEEE International Conference on Development and Learning (ICDL). IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers). doi: 10.1109/ICDL63968.2025.11204357. Full text in Research Archive
  • Meijer, Frida; Lindblom, Diana Saplacan; Baselizadeh, Adel & T?rresen, Jim (2025). "The wooden gripper was warmer and made the robot less threatening"– A Study on Perceived Safety based on Robot Gripper’s Visual and Tactile Properties. In Emilia, Barakova,; Ben, Allouch, Somaya; Kazuhiro, Nakadai, & Goldie, Nejat, (Ed.), Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN) 2025. IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers). p. 1091–1098. doi: https:/ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/11217775. Full text in Research Archive
  • Otterdijk, Marieke van; Neggers, Margot; Torresen, Jim & Barakova, Emilia (2025). Exploring Human Attribution of?Emotional Intent to?Motion Features in?a?Humanoid Robot. In Palinko, Oskar; Bodenhagen, Leon; Cabibihan, John-John; Fischer, Kerstin; ?abanovi?, Selma; Winkle, Katie; Behera, Laxmidhar; Ge, Shuzhi Sam; Chrysostomou, Dimitrios; Jiang, Wanyue & He, Hongsheng (Ed.), Social Robotics. Springer. ISSN 9789819635184. p. 323–323. doi: 10.1007/978-981-96-3519-1_29. Full text in Research Archive
  • Maeda, Ryuichi; Baselizadeh, Adel; Watanabe, Shin; Kurazume, Ryo & T?rresen, Jim (2025). Adaptive Tidying Robots: Learning from Interaction and Observation. In Asfour, Tamim; Ramírez-Amaro, Karinne; Kim, Joohyung & Cheng, Gordon (Ed.), 2025 IEEE/SICE International Symposium on System Integration (SII). IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers). p. 185–192. doi: 10.1109/sii59315.2025.10871003. Full text in Research Archive
  • Otterdijk, Marieke van; Laeng, Bruno; Saplacan-Lindblom, Diana; Baselizadeh, Adel & T?rresen, Jim (2025). Seeing Meaning: How Congruent Robot Speech and Gestures Impact Human Intuitive Understanding of Robot Intentions. International Journal of Social Robotics. ISSN 1875-4791. doi: 10.1007/s12369-025-01271-0. Full text in Research Archive
  • Weng, Yueh-Hsuan; Torabi, David; Torresen, Jim; Dong, Zonghao & Hirata, Yasuhisa (2025). Bridging Ethics and Reality: Integrating Thought Experiments and Empirical Insights in Robot Ethics. IEEE robotics & automation magazine. ISSN 1070-9932. p. 8–8. doi: 10.1109/mra.2025.3584352. Full text in Research Archive
  • Fatima, Safia; Ellefsen, Kai Olav & Moonen, Leon (2025). Self Healing of a Mixed Autonomy Traffic System Using Reinforcement Learning and Attention. IEEE Open Journal of Intelligent Transportation Systems. 6, p. 1200–1220. doi: 10.1109/OJITS.2025.3606539. Full text in Research Archive
  • Orten, Kristine Fjellk?rstad; Helgesen, Sander Elias Magnussen; Chen, Bihui; Baselizadeh, Adel; T?rresen, Jim & Herrebr?den, Henrik (2025). Can machine learning distinguish between elite and non-elite rowers? International Journal of Computer Science in Sport. 24(1), p. 118–132. doi: 10.2478/ijcss-2025-0007. Full text in Research Archive
  • Khaksar, Weria; Saplacan, Diana; Bygrave, Lee Andrew & T?rresen, Jim (2025). Robotics in Elderly Healthcare: A Qualitative Analysis of 20 Recent European Research Projects. ACM Transactions on Human-Robot Interaction. 14(2). doi: 10.1145/3711936. Full text in Research Archive
  • Otterdijk, Marieke van; Kwak, Dongho; Baselizadeh, Adel; Lindblom, Diana Saplacan & Torresen, Jim (2024). Age-Old Gesture: Analyzing the Intuitive Responses to Robot Handshakes Among Seniors and Young Adults. In Sgorbissa, Antonio & Wei, Lei (Ed.), 2024 33rd IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (ROMAN). IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers). ISSN 9798350375022. doi: 10.1109/ro-man60168.2024.10731393. Full text in Research Archive
  • Baselizadeh, Adel; Lindblom, Diana Saplacan; Khaksar, Weria; Uddin, Md Zia & T?rresen, Jim (2024). Comparative Analysis of Vision-Based Sensors for Human Monitoring in Care Robots: Exploring the Utility-Privacy Trade-off. In Sgorbissa, Antonio & Wei, Lei (Ed.), 2024 33rd IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (ROMAN). IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers). ISSN 9798350375022. p. 1794–1801. doi: 10.1109/ro-man60168.2024.10731223. Full text in Research Archive
  • Watanabe, Shin; Horn, Geir; T?rresen, Jim & Ellefsen, Kai Olav (2024). Improving Robot Skills by Integrating Task and Motion Planning with Learning from Demonstration. In Capi, Genci (Eds.), 2024 6th International Conference on Control and Robotics. IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers). ISSN 9798331518158. doi: 10.1109/iccr64365.2024.10927043. Full text in Research Archive
  • Baselizadeh, Adel; Uddin, Md Zia; Khaksar, Weria; Saplacan, Diana & T?rresen, Jim (2024). PriMA-Care: Privacy-Preserving Multi-modal Dataset for Human Activity Recognition in Care Robots. In Grollman, Dan & Broadbent, Elizabeth (Ed.), HRI '24: Companion of the 2024 ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction. Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). ISSN 9798400703232. p. 233–237. doi: 10.1145/3610978.3640701. Full text in Research Archive

View all works in NVA

  • Ellefsen, Kai Olav (2025). Seminar: "Fast and Slow Thinking AI". Full text in Research Archive
  • Carnevali, Alice & Ellefsen, Kai Olav (2025). Will robots do our dishes by 2030? |Euronews Tech Talks. [Internet]. EuroNews. Full text in Research Archive
  • Lindblom, Diana Saplacan (2025). Presentation: ROBOts as Welfare Technologies and Actors for ELderLy Care: A Nordic Model for Integration of Advanced Assistive Technologies (ROBOWELL) pre-kickoff. Full text in Research Archive
  • Lindblom, Diana Saplacan & Murashova, Natalia (2025). AI in Society: Virtual and Physical AI. doi: https:/www.uio.no/om/澳门葡京手机版app下载/skole/fagped-dag/program.html. Full text in Research Archive
  • Lindblom, Diana Saplacan (2025). A Cross-Cultural Study between Norway and Japan on Consent in HRI; The Use of Social Robots in Public and Private Spaces – Users’ Perspectives. doi: https:/2025.roboethics.design/program. Full text in Research Archive
  • T?rresen, Jim; Prestes, Edson; Caleb-Solly, Praminda; Weng, Yueh Hsuan & Watanabe, Shin (2025). CASE 2025 Workshop on Ethical Considerations in Robotics and Automation (WECRA). doi: https:/sites.google.com/view/robot-ethics-case2025-workshop. Full text in Research Archive
  • T?rresen, Jim (2025). Keynote: Techno-Ethical Considerations when Applying Machine Learning in Real-world Systems. doi: https:/www.icmlt.org/2025.html. Full text in Research Archive
  • T?rresen, Jim (2025). Invited talk: Intelligent Robotics in Healthcare. Full text in Research Archive
  • T?rresen, Jim (2025). Guest lecture: Intelligent Robotics in (Home) Healthcare. Full text in Research Archive
  • T?rresen, Jim (2025). Invited talk: When will a robot treat us instead of a medical doctor? doi: https:/www.uio.no/english/research/strategic-research-areas/life-science/norway-life-science-conference/. Full text in Research Archive
  • Lindblom, Diana Saplacan (2025). Overview of my research: background, results, experiences, publications and future directions. Full text in Research Archive
  • Lindblom, Diana Saplacan (2025). "The Wooden Gripper Was Warmer and Made the Robot Less Threatening"– a Study on Perceived Safety Based on Robot Gripper’s Visual and Tactile Properties. Full text in Research Archive
  • Rolfsjord, Sigmund Johannes Ljosvoll; Arnim, Hugh Alexander von; Fatima, Safia & Baselizadeh, Adel (2025). Multimodal Transfer Learning for Privacy in Human Activity Recognition. Full text in Research Archive
  • Nerg?rd, Katrine Linnea; Ellefsen, Kai Olav & T?rresen, Jim (2025). Fast or Slow: Adaptive Decision Maiking in Reinfocement Learning with Pre-Trained LLMs. Full text in Research Archive
  • Ellefsen, Kai Olav (2025). Fast and Slow Thinking AI. Full text in Research Archive
  • Saplacan, Diana (2025). Overview of the Robotics and Intelligent Research Group work within Human-Robot Interaction from the past years. Full text in Research Archive
  • Saplacan, Diana (2025). Overview of the Work Within HRI Focusing on Elderly Care and Healthcare Professionals Views on the Use of Robots within Home- and Healthcare: Lessons Learned. Full text in Research Archive
  • Tapus, Adriana; Zhegong, Shangguan; T?rresen, Jim & S?raa, Roger Andre (2024). IEEE RO-MAN 2024 Workshop on Ethics Challenges in Socially Assistive Robots and Agents: Legality, Value Orientation, and Future Design for Human-Robot Interaction (HRI). doi: https:/perso.ensta-paris.fr/~shangguan/Ro-manWS/Home.html. Full text in Research Archive
  • T?rresen, Jim; Prestes, Edson; Caleb-Solly, Praminda & Weng, Yueh Hsuan (2024). IEEE/RSJ IROS 2024 workshop Ethical, Legal and User Perspectives on Assisting Robots and Systems (WELUPARS). doi: https:/sites.google.com/view/iros-2024-robot-ethics?pli=1&authuser=1. Full text in Research Archive
  • T?rresen, Jim (2024). Invited talk: Intelligent robots - the future of healthcare? Full text in Research Archive
  • T?rresen, Jim (2024). Invited talk: Ethics Integrated in Human-Robot Interaction Research. doi: https:/www.roboethics.design. Full text in Research Archive
  • Lindblom, Diana Saplacan (2024). Healthcare Professionals’ Attitudes Towards Caregiving Through Teleoperation of Robots in Elderly Care. Seminar at RITMO Centre of Excellence for Time, Rhythm, and Motion. Full text in Research Archive
  • Ellefsen, Kai Olav (2024). For KI er to pluss to like tidkrevende som ? l?se klimakrisen. Morgenbladet. ISSN 0805-3847. Full text in Research Archive
  • Saplacan, Diana (2024). User Studies in HRI: A Qualitative Research Perspective. Full text in Research Archive
  • Saplacan, Diana (2024). Social Robots and Socially Assistive Robots (SARs) within Elderly Care: Lessons Learned So Far. Full text in Research Archive
  • Saplacan, Diana (2024). Human Robot Interaction: Studies with Users. Full text in Research Archive
  • Saplacan, Diana (2024). Qualitative Observational Video-Based Study on Perceived Privacy in Social Robots’ Based on Robots Appearances. Full text in Research Archive
  • T?rresen, Jim (2024). Ethical, Legal and Technical Challenges and Considerations. Full text in Research Archive
  • T?rresen, Jim (2024). Invitert foredrag: Vil vi ha roboter til ? hjelpe oss n?r vi trenger hjelp? Full text in Research Archive
  • Torheim, Kevin Tran & Ellefsen, Kai Olav (2025). Exploring fast and slow thinking in artificial intelligence. Universitetet i Oslo. Full text in Research Archive
  • Hasle, Viktor Ringvold & Ellefsen, Kai Olav (2025). Fast and Slow Reasoning with Model-Based Reinforcement Learning. Universitetet i Oslo. Full text in Research Archive
  • Bjerkan, Mons Eirik; Watanabe, Shin & T?rresen, Jim (2025). Offline Reinforcement Learning through MPC Bootstrapping. Universitetet i Oslo. doi: http:/hdl.handle.net/10852/120967. Full text in Research Archive
  • Sandanger, Tonje Viddal; T?rresen, Jim; Wiig, Ola; Homlong, Eirik Gromholt & Kumar, Rahul Prasanna (2025). Enhancing Gait Analysis through eXplainable AI. Universitetet i Oslo. doi: http:/hdl.handle.net/10852/120947. Full text in Research Archive
  • Lindblom, Diana Saplacan; T?rresen, Jim & Hakimi, Nina (2024). Dynamic Dimensions of Safety - How robot height and velocity affect human-robot interaction: An explorative study on the concept of perceived safety. University of Oslo. Full text in Research Archive

View all works in NVA

Funding

Funded by The Research Council of Norway

Project number: 312333

Collaborators

Sunnaas Rehabilitation Hospital, Norway

Norwegian version of this page
Published Jan. 24, 2025 12:30 PM - Last modified May 28, 2025 1:18 PM