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About

Guglielmo Papagni is a leading voice in human-robot interaction, focusing on how people make sense of and trust intelligent machines. His primary research areas include explainable robotics, the philosophy of artificial agency, and the subtle nonverbal cues that shape human-robot relationships. Papagni’s most influential work, “Understandable and trustworthy explainable robots: A sensemaking perspective” (2020, 38 citations), fundamentally reframes the challenge of robot transparency, arguing that explanations must be approximate, context-dependent, and tailored to non-expert users to foster genuine trust. In his highly cited 2021 paper, “A Pragmatic Approach to the Intentional Stance” (36 citations), he tackles the semantic, empirical, and ethical implications of treating advanced AI agents—like GPT-3 and AlphaGo Zero—as if they had intentions, offering a nuanced framework for designers. He has also explored the impact of gaze aversion on user experience in human-robot interaction, contributing to the design of more socially fluent robots. By bridging cognitive science, ethics, and engineering, Papagni’s work provides essential guidance for creating robots that are not only capable but also comprehensible and trustworthy partners in everyday life.