Biography
Lars Kunze is a Departmental Lecturer in Robotics in the Oxford Robotics Institute (ORI) and the Department of Engineering Science at the University of Oxford, and a Stipendiary Lecturer in Computer Science at Keble College. He is a Programme Fellow of the Assuring Autonomy International Programme (AAIP) and a Co-Editor of the German Journal of Artificial Intelligence (KI Journal, Springer). At ORI, Lars leads the Cognitive Robotics Group (CRG).
Lars studied Cognitive Science (BSc, 2006) and Computer Science (MSc, 2008) at the University of Osnabrück, Germany, and partly at the University of Edinburgh, UK.
He received his PhD (Dr. rer. nat.) from the Technical University of Munich, Germany, in 2014.
In May 2013, Lars was appointed as a Research Fellow in the Intelligent Robotics Lab at the School of Computer Science at Birmingham University.
In March 2017, he joined the Oxford Robotics Institute at Oxford University.
Research Interests
Lars' areas of expertise lie in the fields of robotics and artificial intelligence (AI). His goal is to enable robots to understand their surroundings, to act autonomously, and to explain their own behaviour in meaningful human terms. To this end, his research concerns the design and development of fundamental AI techniques for autonomous robot systems. He focusses on the combination of knowledge representation, reasoning, machine learning, and robot perception; motivated by applications in complex, real-world environments.
Research Projects
- Assuring Autonomy International Programme (AAIP), Sense-Assess-eXplain (SAX) Building trust in autonomous vehicles in challenging real-world driving scenarios. (https://ori.ox.ac.uk/projects/sense-assess-explain-sax/)
- EU H2020, Autonomous Decision Making in Very Long Traverses (ADE) Realising planetary rover systems with autonomous decision making capabilities in the context of opportunistic science missions. (https://www.h2020-ade.eu)
Research Group
Research Activity
- Programme Fellow of the Assuring Autonomy International Programme (AAIP)
- Editor of the German Journal of Artificial Intelligence (KI Journal, Springer)
DPhil Supervision Interests
I am looking for DPhil students to join the Cognitive Robotics Group (CRG) at the Oxford Robotics Institute. I am open to supervising DPhil students with an interest in perception, inference, learning, and interaction.
Recent Publications
From spoken thoughts to automated driving commentary: Predicting and explaining intelligent vehicles' actions
Omeiza D, Anjomshoae S, Webb H, Jirotka M & Kunze L (2022), 2022 IEEE Intelligent Vehicles Symposium (IV), 1040-1047
BibTeX
@inproceedings{fromspokenthoug-2022/7,
title={From spoken thoughts to automated driving commentary: Predicting and explaining intelligent vehicles' actions},
author={Omeiza D, Anjomshoae S, Webb H, Jirotka M & Kunze L},
booktitle={33rd IEEE Intelligent Vehicles Symposium},
pages={1040-1047},
year = "2022"
}
Ethical Risk Assessment for Social Robots: Case Studies in Smart Robot Toys
Winfield AFT, van Maris A, Winkle K, Jirotka M, Salvini P et al. (2022), 102, 61-76
BibTeX
@misc{ethicalriskasse-2022/1,
title={Ethical Risk Assessment for Social Robots: Case Studies in Smart Robot Toys},
author={Winfield AFT, van Maris A, Winkle K, Jirotka M, Salvini P et al.},
year = "2022"
}
Towards accountability: providing intelligible explanations in autonomous driving
Omeiza D, Webb H, Jirotka M & Kunze L (2021), Proceedings of the 32nd IEEE Symposium on Intelligent Vehicle (IV 2021), 231-237
BibTeX
@inproceedings{towardsaccounta-2021/11,
title={Towards accountability: providing intelligible explanations in autonomous driving},
author={Omeiza D, Webb H, Jirotka M & Kunze L},
booktitle={32nd IEEE Intelligent Vehicles Symposium (IV 2021)},
pages={231-237},
year = "2021"
}
Explanations in autonomous driving: a survey
Omeiza D, Webb H, Jirotka M & Kunze L (2021), IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems, 23(8), 10142-10162
BibTeX
@article{explanationsina-2021/11,
title={Explanations in autonomous driving: a survey},
author={Omeiza D, Webb H, Jirotka M & Kunze L},
journal={IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems},
volume={23},
pages={10142-10162},
publisher={IEEE},
year = "2021"
}
Assessing and explaining collision risk in dynamic environments for autonomous driving safety
Nahata R, Omeiza D, Howard R & Kunze L (2021), 2021 IEEE International Intelligent Transportation Systems Conference (ITSC), 223-230
BibTeX
@inproceedings{assessingandexp-2021/10,
title={Assessing and explaining collision risk in dynamic environments for autonomous driving safety},
author={Nahata R, Omeiza D, Howard R & Kunze L},
booktitle={24th IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Transportation - ITSC2021},
pages={223-230},
year = "2021"
}
Why not explain? effects of explanations on human perceptions of autonomous driving
Omeiza D, Kollnig K, Webb H, Jirotka M & Kunze L (2021), Proceedings of the 17th 2021 IEEE International Conference on Advanced Robotics and its Social Impacts, 194-199
BibTeX
@inproceedings{whynotexplainef-2021/9,
title={Why not explain? effects of explanations on human perceptions of autonomous driving},
author={Omeiza D, Kollnig K, Webb H, Jirotka M & Kunze L},
booktitle={17th IEEE International Conference on Advanced Robotics and Its Social Impacts (ARSO 2021)},
pages={194-199},
year = "2021"
}
Towards explainable and trustworthy autonomous physical systems
Omeiza D, Anjomshoae S, Kollnig K, Camburu O-M, Främling K et al. (2021), Proceedings of the Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems(May 2021)
BibTeX
@inproceedings{towardsexplaina-2021/5,
title={Towards explainable and trustworthy autonomous physical systems},
author={Omeiza D, Anjomshoae S, Kollnig K, Camburu O-M, Främling K et al.},
booktitle={CHI Virtual Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA 2021)},
year = "2021"
}
Sense-Assess-eXplain (SAX): building trust in autonomous vehicles in challenging real-world driving scenarios
Gadd M, De Martini D, Marchegiani M, Newman P & Kunze L (2021), Proceedings of the 2020 IEEE Intelligent Vehicles Symposium (IV), 150-155
BibTeX
@inproceedings{senseassessexpl-2021/1,
title={Sense-Assess-eXplain (SAX): building trust in autonomous vehicles in challenging real-world driving scenarios},
author={Gadd M, De Martini D, Marchegiani M, Newman P & Kunze L},
booktitle={IEEE Intelligent Vehicles Symposium (IV), Workshop on Ensuring and Validating Safety for Automated Vehicles (EVSAV)},
pages={150-155},
year = "2021"
}
Build Back Better with Responsible AI.
Kunze L (2021), Kunstliche intelligenz, 35(1), 1-3
BibTeX
@article{buildbackbetter-2021/1,
title={Build Back Better with Responsible AI.},
author={Kunze L},
journal={Kunstliche intelligenz},
volume={35},
pages={1-3},
year = "2021"
}
ADE: Enhancing Autonomy for Future Planetary Robotic Exploration
Ocón J, Dragomir I, Cordes F, Dominguez R, Marc R et al. (2021), Proceedings of the International Astronautical Congress, IAC, A3
BibTeX
@inproceedings{adeenhancingaut-2021/1,
title={ADE: Enhancing Autonomy for Future Planetary Robotic Exploration},
author={Ocón J, Dragomir I, Cordes F, Dominguez R, Marc R et al.},
year = "2021"
}
