Biography

Samuel Olatunji is an Assistant Professor in the Industrial and Systems Engineering department at the University of Tennessee Knoxville. He received his PhD in Industrial Engineering in 2021 from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel with a focus in Intelligent Systems. While in Israel, he worked on Assistive Robots to Support Older Adults – Interaction Design for Varying Levels of Automation. This work was part of the EU HORIZON 2020 ITN, SOCRATES project on social cognitive robotics in eldercare. His postdoctoral research was in Applied Health Sciences, at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, where worked as a robotics researcher for the human-robot interaction projects in the Human Factors and Aging laboratory and as a research fellow for the McKechnie Family LIFE Home. His research addresses interaction design challenges for robots supporting individuals in their daily living activities. His expertise as a human-robot interaction researcher helps guide robot-based project developments through theory and methodologically sound approaches and advances fundamental knowledge and practice in human-systems integration.

Education

• BSc (Hons.) Electrical Engineering. University of Ilorin (2006 – 2010), Ilorin, Nigeria
• MSc Electrical and Electronic Engineering. University of Ilorin (2012 – 2014), Ilorin, Nigeria
• PhD Industrial Engineering. Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (2017 – 2021), Beer-Sheva, Israel

Research Publications

1. Olatunji, S. A., Bayles, M. A., Liu, S., Hasan, A., Driggs-Campbell, K., & Rogers, W. A. (2025). Developing wayfinding robotic support for older persons with vision impairment. Assistive Technology, 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1080/10400435.2025.2525823
2. Olatunji, S.A., Shim, J., Syed, A., Tsai, Y.L., Pereira, A., Mahajan, H.P., Mudar, R.A., & Rogers, W.A. (2025). Robotic Support for Older Adults with Cognitive and Mobility Impairments. Frontiers in Robotics and AI 12:1545733. https://doi.org/10.3389/frobt.2025.1545733
3. Keidar, O., Parmet, Y., Olatunji, S. A., & Edan, Y. (2024). Comparison of proactive and reactive interaction modes in a mobile robotic telecare study. Applied Ergonomics, 118, 104269. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apergo.2024.104269
4. Olatunji, S.A., Nguyen, V., Edsinger, A., Kemp, C.C., Rogers, W.A., & Mahajan, H.P. (2024). Immersive participatory design of assistive robots to support older adults. Ergonomics, 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1080/00140139.2024.2312529
5. Olatunji, S., Potenza, A., Oron-Gilad, T., Kiselev, A., Loutfi, A., & Edan, Y. (2022). Levels of automation for a mobile robot tele-operated by a caregiver. ACM Transactions on Human-Robot Interaction (THRI), 11(2), 1-21. https://doi.org/10.1145/3507471
6. Olatunji, S.A., Oron-Gilad, T., Markfeld, N., Gutman, D., Sarne-Fleischmann, V. & Edan, Y. (2021). Levels of automation and transparency: interaction design considerations in socially assistive robots for older adults. IEEE Transactions on Human-Machine Systems, 51(6), 673-683. https://doi.org/10.1109/THMS.2021.3107516
7. Avioz-Sarig, O., Olatunji, S., Sarne-Fleischmann, V. &, Edan, Y. (2020). Robotic system for physical training of older adults. International Journal of Social Robotics, 1-16.  https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12369-020-00697-y

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