Socially Intelligent Machines Lab

Books & Book Chapters

• Andrea Thomaz, Guy Hoffman, and Maya Cakmak. Computational human-robot interaction. Foundations and Trends in Robotics, 4(2-3):105–223, 2016.
• Sonia Chernova and Andrea L. Thomaz. Robot learning from human teachers. Synthesis Lectures on Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, 8(3):1–121, 2014.
• A. L. Thomaz and M. Cakmak. Active social learning in humans and robots. In Kevin B. Clark, editor, Social Learning Theory: Phylogenetic considerations across animal, plant, and microbial taxa. Nova Publishers, New York, NY, 2013.

PhD Theses

• Andrea L. Thomaz, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, “Socially Guided Machine Learning” May 2006; Advisor: Cynthia Breazeal
• Michael Gielniak, Georgia Institute of Technology “Adaptation of task-aware, communicative variance for motion control in social humanoid robotic applications” Jan 2012
• Maya Cakmak, Georgia Institute of Technology “Guided teaching interactions with robots: embodied queries and teaching heuristics” May 2012; Advisor: Andrea Thomaz
• Crystal Chao, Georgia Institute of Technology “Timing multimodal turn-taking in human-robot cooperative activity” May 2015; Advisor: Andrea Thomaz
• Baris Akgun, Georgia Institute of Technology “Robots learning actions and goals from everyday people” Dec 2015; Advisor: Andrea Thomaz
• Vivian Chu, Georgia Institute of Technology “Teaching robots about human environments: Leveraging human interaction to efficiently learn and use multisensory object affordances” May 2018; Advisors: Andrea Thomaz, Sonia Chernova
• Tesca Fitzgerald, Georgia Institute of Technology “Human-guided task transfer for interactive robots.” August 2020; Advisors: Andrea Thomaz, Ashok Goel

Journal and Conference Publications by year

2021

• Shih-Yun Lo, Benito Fernandez, Peter Stone, Andrea L. Thomaz. Towards Safe Motion Planning in Human Workspaces: A Robust Multi-agent Approach. IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 2021.
• Shih-Yun Lo, Andrea L. Thomaz. Communication Strategy for Efficient Guidance Providing Domain-structure Awareness, Performance Trade-offs, and Value of Future Observations. IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 2021.
• Shih-Yun Lo, Elaine S. Short, Andrea L. Thomaz. Robust Planning with Emergent Human-like Behavior for Agents Traveling in Groups. IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 2021.
• Mai Lee Chang, Greg Trafton, J. Malcolm McCurry, Andrea L. Thomaz. Unfair! Perceptions of Fairness in Human-Robot Teams. IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (R0-MAN), 2021.

2020

• Shih-Yun Lo, Elaine S. Short, Andrea L. Thomaz. Planning with Partner Uncertainty Modeling for Efficient Information Revealing in Teamwork. ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI), 2020.
• Taylor Kessler Faulkner, Elaine S. Short, Andrea L. Thomaz. Interactive Reinforcement Learning with Inaccurate Feedback. IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 2020.
• Adam Allevato, Mitch Pryor, Andrea L. Thomaz. Multiparameter Real-World System Identification using Iterative Residual Tuning. International Design Engineering Technical Conferences & Computers and Information in Engineering Conference (IDETC/CIE), 2020.
• Adam Allevato, Elaine S. Short, Mitch Pryor, Andrea L. Thomaz. Learning Labeled Robot Affordance Models by using Simulations and Crowdsourcing. Robotics: Science and Systems (RSS), 2020.
• Mai Lee Chang, Taylor Kessler Faulkner, Thomas Wei, Elaine S. Short, G. Anandaraman, Andrea L. Thomaz. TASC: Teammate Algorithm for Shared Cooperation. IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 2020.
• Mai Lee Chang, Zachary H. Pope, Elaine S. Short, Andrea L. Thomaz. Defining Fairness in Human-Robot Teams. IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Robot & Human Interactive Communication (R0-MAN), 2020.

2019

• Vivian Chu, Reymundo A. Gutierrez, Sonia Chernova, Andrea L. Thomaz. Real-time Multisensory Affordance-based Control for Adaptive Object Manipulation. IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 2019.
• Tesca Fitzgerald, Elaine Short, Ashok Goel, Andrea Thomaz. Human-guided Trajectory Adaptation for Tool Transfer. International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems (AAMAS), 2019.
• Taylor Kessler Faulkner, Reymundo A. Gutierrez, Elaine Schaertl Short, Guy Hoffman, Andrea Lockerd Thomaz. Active Attention-Modified Policy Shaping. International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems (AAMAS), 2019.
• Tesca Fitzgerald, Ashok Goel, Andrea Thomaz. Human-guided Object Mapping for Task Transfer. . ACM Transactions on Human-Robot Interaction (THRI), 2019.
• Elaine S. Short, Adam Allevato, Andrea L. Thomaz. SAIL: Simulation-Informed Active In-the-Wild Learning. ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI), 2019.
• Akanksha Saran, Elaine S. Short, Andrea L. Thomaz, Scott Niekum. Understanding Teacher Gaze Patterns for Robot Learning. Conference on Robot Learning (CoRL), 2019.
• Adam Allevato, Elaine S. Short, Mitch Pryor, Andrea L. Thomaz. TuneNet: One-Shot Residual Tuning for System Identification and Sim-to-Real Robot Task Transfer. Conference on Robot Learning (CoRL), 2019.

2018

• Taylor Kessler Faulkner, Elaine Schaertl Short, Andrea Lockerd Thomaz. Policy Shaping with Supervisory Attention Driven Exploration. . IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 2018.
• Mai Lee Chang, Reymundo A. Gutierrez, Priyanka Khante, Elaine Schaertl Short, Andrea Lockerd Thomaz. Effects of Integrated Intent Recognition and Communication on Human-Robot Collaboration. IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 2018.
• Akanksha Saran, Srinjoy Majumdar, Elaine Schaertl Short, Andrea L. Thomaz, Scott Niekum. Human Gaze Following for Human-Robot Interaction. IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 2018.
• Kalesha Bullard, Andrea L. Thomaz, and Sonia Chernova. Towards Intelligent Arbitration of Diverse Active Learning Queries . IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 2018.
• Adam Allevato, Andrea L. Thomaz and Mitch Pryor. Affordance Discovery using Simulated Exploration. IEEE International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems (AAMAS), 2018.
• Kalesha Bullard, Sonia Chernova, and Andrea L. Thomaz. Human-Driven Feature Selection for a Robotic Agent Learning Classification Tasks from Demonstration. IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 2018.
• Reymundo A. Gutierrez, Vivian Chu, Andrea L. Thomaz, Scott Niekum. Incremental Task Modification via Corrective Demonstrations. IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 2018.
• Elaine S. Short, Mai Lee Chang, Andrea Thomaz. Detecting Contingency for HRI in Open-World Environments. ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI), 2018.

2017

• Vivian Chu, Andrea L. Thomaz. Analyzing Differences between Teachers when Learning Object Affordances via Guided-Exploration. International Journal of Robotics Research (IJRR), 2017.
• Tesca Fitzgerald, Andrea Thomaz, Ashok Goel. Human-Robot Co-Creativity: Task Transfer on a Spectrum of Similarity. Eighth International Conference on Computational Creativity (ICCC), 2017.
• Sonia Chernova, Vivian Chu, Angel Daruna, Haley Garrison, Meera Hahn, Priyanka Khante, Weiyu Liu, Andrea L. Thomaz. Situated Bayesian Reasoning Framework for Robots Operating in Diverse Everyday Environments. International Symposium on Robotics Research (ISRR), 2017.

2016

• Kalesha Bullard, Baris Akgun, Sonia Chernova, Andrea Thomaz. Grounding Action Parameters from Demonstration. IEEE International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN), 2016.
• Samantha Krening, Brent Harrison, Karen Feigh, Charles Isbell, Mark Riedl, and Andrea Thomaz. Learning from explanations using sentiment and advice in RL. IEEE Transactions on Cognitive and Developmental Systems, 2016.
• Crystal Chao and Andrea Thomaz. Timed petri nets for fluent turn-taking over multimodal interaction resources in human-robot collaboration. The International Journal of Robotics Research, 2016.
• Christian M Hubicki, Ayonga Hereid, Michael X Grey, Andrea L Thomaz, and Aaron D Ames. Work those arms: Toward dynamic and stable humanoid walking that optimizes full-body motion. IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 2016.
• Tobias Kunz, Andrea Thomaz, and Henrik Christensen. Hierarchical rejection sampling for informed kinodynamic planning in high-dimensional spaces. IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 2016.
• Michael X Grey, Caelan R Garrett, C Karen Liu, Aaron D Ames, and Andrea L Thomaz. Humanoid manipulation planning using backward-forward search. IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 2016.
  Kaushik Subramanian, Charles L Isbell Jr, and Andrea L Thomaz. Exploration from demonstration for interactive reinforcement learning. International Conference on Autonomous Agents & Multiagent Systems (AAMAS), 2016.
• Himanshu Sahni, Brent Harrison, Kaushik Subramanian, Thomas Cederborg, Charles Isbell, and Andrea Thomaz. Policy shaping in domains with multiple optimal policies. International Conference on Autonomous Agents & Multiagent Systems (AAMAS), 2016.
• Samantha Krening, Brent Harrison, Karen M Feigh, Charles Isbell, and Andrea Thomaz. Object-focused advice in reinforcement learning. In Proceedings of the 2016 International Conference on Autonomous Agents & Multiagent Systems, pages 1447–1448, 2016.
• Yannick Schroecker, Heni Ben Amor, and Andrea Thomaz. Directing policy search with interactively taught via-points. International Conference on Autonomous Agents & Multiagent Systems (AAMAS), 2016.
• Tesca Fitzgerald, Kalesha Bullard, Andrea Thomaz, and Ashok Goel. Situated mapping for transfer learning. Advances in Cognitive Systems (ACS), 2016.
• Vivian Chu, Baris Akgun, and Andrea L. Thomaz. Learning haptic affordances from demonstration and human-guided exploration. IEEE Haptics Symposium (HAPTICS), 2016.
• Vivian Chu, Tesca Fitzgerald, and Andrea L. Thomaz. Learning object affordances by leveraging the combination of human-guidance and self-exploration. ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI), 2016.

2015

• Baris Akgun and Andrea Thomaz. Simultaneously learning actions and goals from demonstration. Autonomous Robots, 2015.
• Tesca Fitzgerald, Keith McGreggor, Baris Akgun, Andrea Thomaz, and Ashok Goel. Visual case retrieval for interpreting skill demonstrations. International Conference on Case-Based Reasoning, 2015.
• B. Akgun and A. L. Thomaz. Self-improvement of learned action models with learned goal models. IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 2015.
• A. Kurenkov, B. Akgun, and A. L. Thomaz. An evaluation of GUI and kinesthetic teaching methods for constrained-keyframe skills . IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 2015.
• J. Smith, C. Chao, and A. L. Thomaz. Real-Time Changes to Social Dynamics in Human-Robot Turn-Taking. IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 2015.
• T. Cederborg, I. Grover, C. Isbell, and A. L. Thomaz. Policy Shaping with Human Teachers. International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence (IJCAI), 2015.

2014

• Maya Cakmak and Andrea L. Thomaz. Eliciting good teaching from humans for machine learners. Artificial Intelligence, 2014.
• Luis C. Cobo, Kaushik Subramanian, Charles L. Isbell Jr., Aaron D. Lanterman, and Andrea L. Thomaz. Abstraction from demonstration for efficient reinforcement learning in high-dimensional domains. Artificial Intelligence, 2014.
• T. Chen, A. King, A. L. Thomaz, and C. Kemp. An investigation of responses to robot-initiated touch in a nursing context. International Journal of Social Robotics, 2014.
• Vivian Chu, Kalesha Bullard, and Andrea L. Thomaz. Multimodal Real-Time Contingency Detection for HRI. IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 2014.

2013

• M. Gielniak, C. K. Liu, and A. L. Thomaz. Generating human-like motion for robots. International Journal of Robotics Research, 2013.
• C. Chao and A. L. Thomaz. Controlling social dynamics with a parameterized model of floor regulation. Journal of Human Robot Interaction, 2013.
• S. Griffith, K. Subramanian, J. Scholz, C. Isbell, and A. Thomaz. Policy shaping: Integrating human feedback with reinforcement learning. Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems (NIPS), 2013.
• L. C. Cobo, C.L. Isbell, and A.L. Thomaz. Object focused Q-learning for autonomous agents. In Proceedings of the International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems (AAMAS), 2013.

2012

• B. Akgun, M. Cakmak, K. Jiang, and A.L. Thomaz. Keyframe-based learning from demonstration. International Journal of Social Robotics, 2012.
• C. Chao and A. L. Thomaz. Timing in multimodal turn-taking interactions: Control and analysis using timed petri nets. International Journal of Human-Robot Interaction, 2012.
• J. Lee, C. Chao, A. Bobick, and A.L. Thomaz. Multi-cue contingency detection. International Journal of Social Robotics, 2012.
• A. L. Thomaz and C. Chao. Turn-taking based on information flow for fluent human-robot interaction. AI Magazine, 2012.
• L. C. Cobo, C.L. Isbell, and A.L. Thomaz. Automatic task decomposition and state abstraction from demonstration. In Proceedings of the International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems (AAMAS), 2012.
• Baris Akgun, Maya Cakmak, Jae Wook Yoo, and Andrea L. Thomaz. Trajectories and keyframes for kinesthetic teaching: A human-robot interaction perspective. ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI), 2012.
• Maya Cakmak and Andrea L. Thomaz. Designing robot learners that ask good questions. In Proceedings of the International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI), 2012.
• M. Gielniak and Andrea L. Thomaz. Enhancing interaction through exaggerated motion synthesis. In Proceedings of the International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI), 2012.

2011

• Crystal Chao, Maya Cakmak, and Andrea L. Thomaz. Towards grounding concepts for transfer in goal learning from demonstration. International Conference on Development and Learning (ICDL), 2011.
• Crystal Chao, Jinhan Lee, Momotaz Begum, and Andrea L. Thomaz. Simon plays simon says: The timing of turn-taking in an imitation game. IEEE International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN), 2011.
• Jaeeun Shim and Andrea L. Thomaz. Human-like action segmentation for option learning. IEEE International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN), 2011.
• Chien-Ming Huang and Andrea L. Thomaz. Effects of responding to, initiating and ensuring joint attention in human-robot interaction. IEEE International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN), 2011.
• Michael J. Gielniak and Andrea L. Thomaz. Anticipation in robot motion. IEEE International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN), 2011.
• L. C. Cobo, P. Zang, C.L. Isbell, and A.L. Thomaz. Automatic state abstraction from demonstration. International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence (IJCAI), 2011.
• M. Gielniak, K. Liu, and A. L. Thomaz. Task aware variance for robot motion. In Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 2011.
• T. Chen, C.H. King, A. L. Thomaz, and C. Kemp. Touched by a robot: An investigation of subjective responses to robot-initiated contact. In Proceedings of the International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI), 2011.
• M. Gielniak and A. L. Thomaz. Spatiotemporal correspondence as a metric for human-like robot motion. In Proceedings of the International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI), 2011.
• J. Lee, J. Kiser, A. Bobick, and A. L. Thomaz. Vision-based contingency detection. In Proceedings of the International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI), 2011.

2010

• M. Cakmak, N. DePalma, R. Arriaga, and A. L. Thomaz. Exploiting social partners in robot learning. Autonomous Robots, 2010.
• M. Cakmak, C. Chao, and A. L. Thomaz. Designing interactions for robot active learners. IEEE Transactions on Autonomous Mental Development, 2010.
• M. Cakmak and A. L. Thomaz. Optimality of human teachers for robot learners. International Conference on Development and Learning (ICDL), 2010.
• P. Zang, R. Tian, A. L. Thomaz, and C. Isbell. Batch versus interactive learning by demonstration. International Conference on Development and Learning (ICDL), 2010.
• C. Chao, M. Cakmak, and A. L. Thomaz. Transparent active learning for robots. International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI), 2010.
• P. Zang, A. Irani, P. Zhou, C. Isbell, and A. L. Thomaz. Using training regimens to teach expanding function approximators. International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems (AAMAS), 2010.
• M. Gielniak, K. Liu, and A. L. Thomaz. Stylized motion generalization through adaptation of velocity profiles. IEEE International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN), 2010.
• M. Gielniak, K. Liu, and A. L. Thomaz. Secondary action in robot motion. IEEE International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN), 2010.

2009

• Kyu Hwa Lee, Jinhan Lee, A. L. Thomaz, and A. Bobick. Effective robot task learning by focusing on task-relevant objects. IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 2009.
• A. L. Thomaz, M. Cakmak, N. DePalma, and R. Arriaga. Effects of social exploration mechanisms on robot learning. IEEE International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN), 2009.
• M. Cakmak, N. DePalma, R. Arriaga, and A. L. Thomaz. Computational benefits of social learning mechanisms: Stimulus enhancement and emulation. International Conference on Developmental Learning (ICDL), 2009.
• A. L. Thomaz and M. Cakmak. Learning about objects with human teachers. ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI), 2009.

2008 and prior

• A. L. Thomaz and C. Breazeal. Teachable robots: Understanding human teaching behavior to build more effective robot learners. Artificial Intelligence, 2008.
• A. L. Thomaz and C. Breazeal. Experiments in socially guided exploration: Lessons learned in building robots that learn with and without human teachers. Connection Science, Special Issue on Social Learning in Embodied Agents, 2008.
• C. Breazeal, M. Berlin, A. Brooks, J. Gray, and A. L. Thomaz. Using perspective taking to learn from ambiguous demonstrations. Journal of Robotics and Autonomous Systems Special Issue on Robot Programming by Demonstration, 2005.
• C. Breazeal, A. Brooks, J. Gray, G. Hoffman, J. Lieberman, H. Lee, A. Lockerd (Thomaz), and D. Mulanda. Tutelage and collaboration for humanoid robots. International Journal of Humanoid Robotics, 2004.
• A. Brooks, J. Gray, G. Hoffman, A. Lockerd (Thomaz), H. Lee, and C. Breazeal. Robot's play: interactive games with sociable machines. Computers in Entertainment, July 2004.
• C. Breazeal and A. L. Thomaz. Learning from human teachers with socially guided exploration. IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 2008.
• A. L. Thomaz and C. Breazeal. Robot learning via socially guided exploration. International Conference on Developmental Learning (ICDL), 2007.
• A. L. Thomaz, G. Hoffman, and C. Breazeal. Reinforcement learning with human teachers: Understanding how people want to teach robots. International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN), 2006.
• A. L. Thomaz and C. Breazeal. Teachable characters: User studies, design principles, and learning performance. International Conference on Intelligent Virtual Agents (IVA), 2006.
• A. L. Thomaz and C. Breazeal. Reinforcement learning with human teachers: Evidence of feedback and guidance with implications for learning performance. National Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AAAI), 2006.
• M. Berlin, J. Gray, A. L. Thomaz, and C. Breazeal. Perspective taking: An organizing principle for learning in human-robot interaction. National Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AAAI), 2006.
• A. L. Thomaz and C. Breazeal. Transparency and socially guided machine learning. International Conference on Developmental Learning (ICDL), 2006.
• A. L. Thomaz, G. Hoffman, and C. Breazeal. Experiments in socially guided machine learning: Understanding how humans teach. ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI), 2006.
• C. Breazeal, C. Kidd, A. L. Thomaz, G. Hoffman, and M. Berlin. Effects of nonverbal communication on efficiency and robustness in human-robot teamwork. IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 2005.
• A. L. Thomaz, M. Berlin, and C. Breazeal. An embodied computational model of social referencing. IEEE International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN), 2005.
• A. Lockerd-Thomaz and C. Breazeal. Tutelage and socially guided robot learning. IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 2004.
• C. Breazeal, G. Hoffman, and A. Lockerd (Thomaz). Teaching and working with robots as collaboration. International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems (AAMAS), 2004.
• C. Breazeal, A. Brooks, D. Chilongo, J. Gray, G. Hoffman, C. Kidd, H. Lee, J. Lieberman, and A. Lockerd (Thomaz). Working collaboratively with humanoid robots. IEEE-RAS/RSJ International Conference on Humanoid Robots (HUMANOIDS), 2004.
• W. Bluethmann, R. Ambrose, M. Diftler, E. Huber, A. Fagg, M. Rosenstein, R. Platt, R. Grupen, C. Breazeal, A. Brooks, A. Lockerd (Thomaz), A. Peters, O. C. Jenkins, M. Mataric, and M. Bugajska. Building an autonomous humanoid tool user. IEEE-RAS/RSJ International Conference on Humanoid Robots (HUMANOIDS), 2004.
• A. Brooks, J. Gray, G. Hoffman, A. Lockerd (Thomaz), H. Lee, and C. Breazeal. Robot's play: interactive games with sociable machines. International Conference on Advances in Computer Entertainment (ACE), 2004.