Program
Schedule
TBAInvited Talks
Ulrike Hahn
Birkbeck College, University of London, UK
Bayesian Argumentation from Single Arguments to Large-Scale Debate
Ulrike Hahn
Birkbeck College, University of London, UK
Bayesian Argumentation from Single Arguments to Large-Scale Debate
Abstract
Over the past decades, the framework of Bayesian probability has successfully been applied to the task of evaluating argument quality: that is, the nuanced evaluation of content-based differences in argument strength for individual arguments, at least in the domain of facts. The Bayesian framework also deals naturally with the problem of aggregation that has bedevilled both argumentation theory and the design of practical argumentation systems. That is, it can provide overall, summary evaluation across multiple arguments in such a way as to yield a final conclusion strength. In this, it is complementary to other formal and computational approaches to argument that have focussed on the dialectical process of argument. The talk describes how core dialectical notions (such as defeat) are captured in a Bayesian framework. It then introduces ways in which it opens up research questions and facilitates progress in understanding what is simultaneously both one of the most important real-world forms of argument and one of the most neglected by argumentation theorists: polylogues involving argument across large groups such as online social networks.
Bio
Ulrike Hahn is a professor at the Department of Psychological Sciences at Birkbeck College, University of London, where she also serves as director of the Centre for Cognition, Computation and Modelling. Ulrike's main focus has been on questions of human rationality. Her research examines human judgment, decision-making, and the rationality of everyday argument. In recent years she has been particularly interested in how the larger communicative social networks that we are part of shape the accuracy of our beliefs. Here she has used Bayesian agent-based models to understand argument exchange within larger collectives. Ulrike has been a member of the Senior Editorial Board of Topics in Cognitive Science, an Action Editor for Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, for Cognitive Psychology, and, currently, is an AE for Psychological Science and a consulting editor for Psychological Review. She was awarded the Cognitive Section Prize by the British Psychological Society, the Kerstin Hesselgren Professorship by the Swedish Research Council, and the Anneliese Maier Research Award by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. She is a fellow of the German National Academy of Science (Leopoldina), a fellow of the Association for Psychological Science, a fellow of the Cognitive Science Society, and she received an honorary doctorate from Lund University, Sweden in 2017.
Guillem Alenyà
Institut de Robotica i Informàtica Industrial (IRI), CSIC and UPC, Barcelona
Solving conflicts in human-robot interaction: context, multiple-preferences, and learning
Guillem Alenyà
Institut de Robotica i Informàtica Industrial (IRI), CSIC and UPC, Barcelona
Solving conflicts in human-robot interaction: context, multiple-preferences, and learning
Abstract
Autonomous agents operating in unstructured human environments must perform continuous decision-making under high degrees of uncertainty. These processes are typically constrained by partially observable states, stochastic sensor noise, and aleatory model inaccuracies. To mitigate these challenges, formal argumentation systems provide a robust framework for disambiguation and verifiable explainability (XAI). Within the domain of assistive robotics, such systems enable agents to synthesize multi-user context and conflicting arguments into coherent action policies. Furthermore, we highlight the advantage that the agent can proactively initiate active information-gathering tasks to resolve knowledge gaps and refine its internal world model.
Bio
Guillem Alenyà is a Researcher and Director at the Institut de Robotica i Informàtica Industrial (IRI), a joint centre of the Spanish Scientific Research Council (CSIC) and Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC). In the last 5 years, he has contributed novel approaches to the areas of learning and HRI devoted to facilitating the introduction of robots in human environments, principally in the fields of assistive robotics and garment manipulation. He is currently promoting LabORA, a new Open Lab devoted to bringing Assistive Robotics closer to societal needs. This is a 500m² new facility with an initial investment of 2.5M€ accompanied by the creation of a promoting group initially composed of more than 10 other research groups, hospitals, day-care facilities, service and technology industries, and governmental agencies.
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