Multi-Agent Coordination

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Overview

Multi-agent coordination studies how agents with partial information, different capabilities, or competing incentives can act together in settings such as robot teams, traffic networks, resource allocation, and language-model workflows. Common approaches include decentralized and centralized multi-agent reinforcement learning, game-theoretic planning, role and task assignment, and communication through messages, shared memory, or learned coordination policies. Recent work also develops orchestration protocols and benchmarks for language-model agents, measuring not just task success but information use, role adherence, safety, and coordination failures. A central tension is that communication and additional agents can improve complex teamwork but also introduce overhead, propagate errors, or make performance worse; individual reasoning ability alone does not guarantee effective cooperation.

Latest papers

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520 papers84 papers in the last four weeks, up 91% on the four weeks before. 0.5% of all new papers.

  1. EvoTeam: Multi-Agent Collaboration via Evolving Teams

    Oct 29, 2026Qinuo Cao, Xin He, Dianxuan Fu +7Multi-Agent CollaborationMulti-Agent Systems

    Jilin University · Nanjing University of Science and Technology · Shanghai AI Lab

  2. Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning for Global Climate Policy Cooperation

    Oct 27, 2026Anne Moll-Elsborg, Oskar Bohn Lassen, Francisco Camara PereiraMulti-Agent CoordinationMulti-Agent Reinforcement Learning

    Technical University of Denmark, Department of Technology, Management and Economics

  3. Compatibility and future-proof testing for multi-agent systems

    Oct 26, 2026Yueshan Li, Lorenzo Fiaschi, Andrea Censi +1Multi-Agent SystemsMulti-Agent Coordination

    Institute for Dynamic Systems and Control, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

  4. The Inbox as a Coordination Primitive for LLM Agent Societies

    Oct 26, 2026Karthik Sreedhar, Leo Yuan, Pradyumna Chari +1Multi-Agent CoordinationMulti-Agent Communication

    MIT Media Lab, Cambridge, USA

  5. PolicyMediator: Multi-Regional Policy Learning through Mediation Agents with Evolving Skills in OPC Ecosystems

    Oct 26, 2026Jie Li, Bin Guo, Georgina Curto +3Policy LearningPolicy Optimization

    Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an, China · United Nations University Institute in Macau, Macau, China

  6. Centralized Critics for N-Agent Ad Hoc Teamwork

    Oct 26, 2026Andrew McAlinden, Caroline Wang, Steven Shi +3Ad Hoc TeamworkMulti-Agent Coordination

  7. Networked Humanoid Intelligence: Communication, Coordination, Collaboration, and Social Interaction

    Oct 26, 2026Loc X. Nguyen, Huy Q. Le, Ji Su Yoon +3Humanoid RoboticsMulti-Agent Communication

    School of Computing, Kyung Hee University, Republic of Korea · The University of Sydney, Australia

  8. CEPO: A General Framework for Improving Prompt Optimization in Multi-Agent Systems

    Oct 26, 2026Jongha Kim, Seohyun Lee, Jonathan Minho Chung +2Prompt OptimizationMulti-Agent System Optimization

    Korea University · KAIST · Google Cloud AI Research

  9. The Coordination Tax and the Heterogeneity Dividend: Break-Even Conditions for Multi-Agent LLM Pipelines

    Oct 25, 2026Andreas Zettl, Diego GosmarMulti-Agent LLMsLLM Agent Efficiency

    Member, VoiceInteroperability.ai Linux Foundation AI & Data Berlin, Germany · Member, VoiceInteroperability.ai Linux Foundation AI & Data Turin, Italy

  10. Collective Collaboration of Recursive Autonomous Agents

    Oct 24, 2026Ziqing Zhou, Linqiang Hu, Yuning Chen +4Multi-Agent CollaborationMulti-Agent Systems

  11. Coral Discovery: The Division of Cognitive Labor in Autonomous Research

    Oct 23, 2026Xinxing Ren, Qianbo Zang, Ziyan Wang +9Autonomous Research AgentsMulti-Agent Coordination

    Coral AI Labs · Università di Trento · Harvard University +3

  12. Neuromorphic Decision Dynamics for Deadlock-free Safe Navigation in Congested Environments

    Oct 23, 2026Himani Sinhmar, Vaibhav Srivastava, Naomi Ehrich LeonardDecentralized Multi-Agent Motion PlanningMulti-Agent Coordination

    Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Princeton University, NJ, USA. · Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Michigan State University, MI, USA.

  13. The Butterfly Defects: Tracing Cooperation in LLM Agent Networks

    Oct 23, 2026Maria Sampani, Maria Lymperaiou, Angeliki Dimitriou +3Multi-LLM CollaborationMulti-Agent Coordination

    National Technical University of Athens

  14. DuoCook: An Overcooked-Inspired Benchmark for Visual Planning and Coordination

    Oct 22, 2026Ziyi Jiao, Heng Zhang, Drishti Regmi +3Multi-Agent CoordinationEmbodied Agent Benchmarks

    Department of Computer Science, University of British Columbia · University of California, San Diego

  15. SpecMAGIC: Specification-Guided Multi-Task Generalization in Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning

    Oct 21, 2026Zijian Guo, İlker Işık, H. M. Sabbir Ahmad +1Multi-Agent Reinforcement LearningMulti-Agent Coordination

    Division of Systems Engineering, Boston University · Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Boston University

  16. ToM2Vec: Continuous Theory-of-Mind Tokens for Multi-Agent Coordination

    Oct 21, 2026Nithin Sivakumaran, Ali Payani, Hyunji Lee +2Multi-Agent CoordinationTheory of Mind

    UNC Chapel Hill · Cisco · The University of Texas at Austin

  17. Brittle by Design? Multi-Scenario Reinforcement Learning for Robust Mission Coordination in Systems of Systems

    Oct 20, 2026İbrahim Oğuz Çetinkaya, Sajad Khodadadian, Taylan TopcuMulti-Agent CoordinationRobust RL

    Grado Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA

  18. Automated Multi-Agent Organization Design: From Architecture Search to Organizational Learning

    Oct 20, 2026Shao-Jun Xia, Yuner Zhang, Huixin Zhang +3Multi-Agent SystemsMulti-Agent System Optimization

    Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, United States · Northeastern University, Boston, United States · University of Southern California, Los Angeles, United States

  19. PACT: Plan-Augmented Coordination via Trace-Graphs for Dynamic Multi-Agent Combinatorial Optimization

    Oct 19, 2026Xiao Zhou, Alex Schutz, Victor-Alexandru Darvariu +1Multi-Agent System OptimizationMulti-Agent Coordination

    Oxford Robotics Institute University of Oxford OX1 3PJ, Oxford, United Kingdom.

  20. MELD: Recursive Self-Improvement via Hierarchical Coordination for Multi-Agent Scientific Discovery

    Oct 17, 2026Sizhe Tang, Zuyuan Zhang, Zeyu Fang +1Multi-Agent LLM SystemsLarge Language Model-Guided Scientific Discovery

    George Washington University

  21. Jarvis: Coordination Deserves a Brain of Its Own in Agentic Interactive Models

    Oct 16, 2026Yuxiang Wang, Shengbo Cai, Zhixian Zhao +7LLM Agent HarnessesMulti-Agent Coordination

    The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen · Tencent Hunyuan · Amphion Technology Co., Ltd.

  22. VLA-Fabric: Learning Interaction for Composable Multi-Arm VLA Agents

    Oct 16, 2026Chenglong Zhang, Shuaijun Liu, Feiyang You +3Multi-Agent CoordinationMulti-Robot Coordination

    The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou)

  23. Learning Self-Orchestration in Decentralized Agent Swarms

    Oct 15, 2026Guowei Xu, Zhenting Qi, Amani Kiruga +2Multi-Agent OrchestrationMulti-Agent Coordination

    Harvard University

  24. Auditable and Deployable Multi-Agent Motion Planning via Posetal Games from Legal Guidelines

    Oct 15, 2026Florian Lercher, Karan Mahesh, Yujun Huang +6Decentralized Multi-Agent Motion PlanningMaritime Navigation

    Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. · School of Computation, Information and Technology, Technical University of Munich, 85748 Garching, Germany. · Department of Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. +2

  25. Decentralized LLM Workflows via Sequential Auctions

    Oct 15, 2026Ian Gemp, Shubhendu Trivedi, Adam Fisch +7Agentic WorkflowsAutomated Bidding

    Google DeepMind · Google Research · University of Waterloo

  26. A Responsibility-Centered Coordination Mechanism for Decentralized Multi-Agent Systems

    Oct 15, 2026Thi-Nhung Nguyen, Viet-Thanh Pham, Linhao Luo +2Multi-Agent CoordinationMulti-Agent Systems

    Department of Data Science & AI, Monash University

  27. What and Where in Identifying and Quantifying Conventions in Humans and AI Agents

    Oct 14, 2026Makoto Fukushima, Tim PuphalMulti-Agent CommunicationMulti-Agent Coordination

    Honda Research Institute Europe

  28. What Makes a Social Agent's Interactions Effective? Learning from Verifiable Outcomes in Paired Worlds

    Oct 14, 2026Caixin Kang, Ke Wang, Yuchuan Wu +5LLM Agent EvaluationLLM Agent Training

    Alibaba Token Hub, Alibaba Group · The University of Tokyo

  29. Evolve Together, Fall into Place: How Social Scaffolding Shapes Self-Evolving Multi-Agent Systems

    Oct 14, 2026Seojin Hwang, Youngmin Choi, Hwanhee LeeMulti-Agent LLM SystemsMulti-Agent Systems

    Chung-Ang University

  30. PRISMATIC : Prescription Risk Inspection System for Multi-Agent Treatment Interaction in Clinical Decision-Making

    Oct 14, 2026Ziyang Ling, Shuyu Lu, Ziyi ChenDrug-Drug Interaction PredictionClinical Decision Support

    University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China · The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, United States