Safe

I am Freek Bomhof, programme director of the AI research programme Appl.AI within TNO. During my studies (Electrical Engineering), I worked on image recognition, a precursor to AI. I continued this work (by reading handwritten addresses with a computer for mail sorting at KPN), and then witnessed the rise of the internet up close, becoming immediately fascinated by the impact digitalisation has on our way of working and living.

I believe that technology should support our performance, safety, well-being and our strive for happiness. Therefore, I work on Human-Technology Symbiosis.

Progress in artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, conversational agents, connectivity and sensing technology increases the capabilities of physical and virtual agents to operate more and more autonomously, possibly as team members, companions or partners of humans. However, the information and decision-making processes of these agents differ from human’s processes fundamentally, providing new opportunities and risks for advancing the joint human-AI performance and human well-being.

My research and teaching activities are about human perception and interaction in computer simulated worlds, focusing on tactile and brain-computer interfaces for navigating simulated worlds; effect, stress and body ownership in augmented reality; and meaningful control of autonomous intelligent systems.