Dhaminda B. Abeywickrama

University of Bristol, University of the West of England, University of Manchester

Papers

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About

Dhaminda B. Abeywickrama is a researcher at the forefront of autonomous systems, swarm robotics, and AI safety, with a particular focus on the trustworthiness and assurance of emergent behaviors in multi-agent systems. His most influential work, "Trustworthy Swarms" (2023, 14 citations), addresses one of the most pressing challenges in deploying robotic swarms beyond the laboratory — ensuring that these systems are technically reliable, socially acceptable, and safe for real-world applications ranging from logistics and environmental monitoring to search and rescue and medicine. Building on this foundation, his AERoS framework provides structured approaches to assuring emergent behavior in autonomous robotic swarms, while his sociotechnical risk analysis work through the "SOTEC" framework highlights the often-overlooked human and organizational dimensions of autonomous system deployment. Abeywickrama has also explored how autonomous agents can develop and negotiate behavioral norms in complex, safety-critical environments such as driverless vehicles and exploration robots. Together, his contributions offer a rare interdisciplinary bridge between robotics engineering, AI ethics, and sociotechnical systems design, making his research essential reading for anyone working on the responsible deployment of autonomous technologies.