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

CardsList

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

  1. MA-CoNav: A Master-Slave Multi-Agent Framework with Hierarchical Collaboration and Dual-Level Reflection for Long-Horizon Embodied VLN

    Mar 3, 2026Ling Luo, Qianqian BaiVision-Language NavigationMulti-Agent Coordination

    Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, Chengdu, 611130, China

  2. Generalized Per-Agent Advantage Estimation for Multi-Agent Policy Optimization

    Mar 3, 2026Seongmin Kim, Giseung Park, Woojun Kim +3Multi-Agent Reinforcement LearningSample-Efficient RL

    KAIST Daejeon, Korea · University of Toronto Toronto, Ontario, Canada · Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA +1

  3. Silo-Bench: A Scalable Environment for Evaluating Distributed Coordination in Multi-Agent LLM Systems

    Mar 1, 2026Yuzhe Zhang, Feiran Liu, Yi Shan +8Multi-Agent LLM SystemsMulti-Agent Coordination

    Beijing University of Technology, Beijing, China · Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China · Meituan LongCat Interaction Team +2

  4. COOP2^2: Defining, Observing, and Repairing Cooperation in LLM Multi-Agent Systems

    Feb 27, 2026Hanqing Yang, Narjes Nourzad, Shiyu Chen +3Multi-Agent CollaborationMulti-Agent Coordination

    CMU · USC · SUTD +1

  5. DIG to Heal: Scaling General-purpose Agent Collaboration via Explainable Dynamic Decision Paths

    Feb 27, 2026Hanqing Yang, Hyungwoo Lee, Yuhang Yao +4Multi-Agent LLM SystemsMulti-Agent Systems

    CMU · Zoom · Salesforce +2

  6. TSC: Topology-Conditioned Stackelberg Coordination for Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning in Interactive Driving

    Feb 27, 2026Xiaotong Zhang, Gang Xiong, Yuanjing Wang +3Multi-Agent CoordinationDecentralized MARL

    State Key Laboratory of Multimodal Artificial Intelligence Systems, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China · School of Artificial Intelligence, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China · Department of Natural Sciences, University of Durham, Durham DH1 3LE, United Kingdom +4

  7. RUMAD: Reinforcement-Unifying Multi-Agent Debate

    Feb 27, 2026Chao Wang, Han Lin, Huaze Tang +2Communication Topology OptimizationMulti-Agent Debate

    Tsinghua University, Shenzhen, China · Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China

  8. Robust Information Design for Multi-Agent Systems with Complementarities: Smallest-Equilibrium Threshold Policies

    Feb 26, 2026Farzaneh Farhadi, Maria ChliInformation DesignMulti-Agent Coordination

    Aston University, Birmingham, United Kingdom

  9. Agentic AI for Intent-driven Optimization in Cell-free O-RAN

    Feb 26, 2026Mohammad Hossein Shokouhi, Vincent W. S. WongWireless CommunicationsIntent-Based Networking

    Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada

  10. Training Generalizable Collaborative Agents via Strategic Risk Aversion

    Feb 25, 2026Chengrui Qu, Yizhou Zhang, Nicolas Lanzetti +1Zero-Shot CoordinationCooperative MARL

    Department of Computing and Mathematical Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA.

  11. Training-Free Agentic AI: Probabilistic Control and Coordination in Multi-Agent LLM Systems

    Feb 24, 2026Mohammad Parsa Hosseini, Ankit Shah, Saiyra Qureshi +3Multi-Agent LLM SystemsLLM Agent Orchestration

    Accenture.

  12. Probing Dec-POMDP Reasoning in Cooperative MARL

    Feb 24, 2026Kale-ab Tessera, Leonard Hinckeldey, Riccardo Zamboni +2Cooperative MARLMulti-Agent Reasoning

    University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom · Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy

  13. A General Equilibrium Theory of Orchestrated AI Agent Systems

    Feb 23, 2026Jean-Philippe GarnierMulti-Agent LLM SystemsMulti-Agent Coordination

    Br.AI.K

  14. Self-Configurable Mesh-Networks for Scalable Distributed Submodular Bandit Optimization

    Feb 22, 2026Zirui Xu, Vasileios TzoumasMulti-Agent CoordinationSubmodular Optimization

    Department of Aerospace Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109 USA

  15. (Perlin) Noise as AI coordinator

    Feb 21, 2026Kaijie Xu, Clark VerbruggeMulti-Agent ControlMulti-Agent Coordination

    McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

  16. When Coordination Is Avoidable: A Monotonicity Analysis of Organizational Tasks

    Feb 21, 2026Harang JuMulti-Agent Coordination

    Carey Business School, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21202

  17. Diffusing to Coordinate: Efficient Online Multi-Agent Diffusion Policies

    Feb 20, 2026Zhuoran Li, Hai Zhong, Xun Wang +3Multi-Agent Reinforcement LearningMulti-Agent Coordination

    Institute for Interdisciplinary Information Sciences, Tsinghua University · ByteDance

  18. Action-Graph Policies: Learning Action Co-dependencies in Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning

    Feb 19, 2026Nikunj Gupta, James Zachary Hare, Jesse Milzman +2Multi-Agent CoordinationDecentralized MARL

    University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA · DEVCOM Army Research Laboratory, Adelphi, MD, USA · DEVCOM ARL Army Research Office, Los Angeles, CA, USA.

  19. Multi-Agent Lipschitz Bandits

    Feb 18, 2026Sourav Chakraborty, Amit Kiran Rege, Claire Monteleoni +1Lipschitz BanditsMulti-Agent Bandits

    University of Colorado Boulder · INRIA Paris

  20. NestRL: A Nested Training Regime for Mutual Adaptation in Human-AI Teaming

    Feb 18, 2026Upasana Biswas, Durgesh Kalwar, Subbarao Kambhampati +1Human-AI CollaborationMulti-Agent Coordination

    School of Computing and AI, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA · Department of Computer Science, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA

  21. Graphon Mean-Field Subsampling for Cooperative Heterogeneous Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning

    Feb 18, 2026Emile Anand, Richard Hoffmann, Sarah Liaw +1Reinforcement LearningCooperative MARL

    School of Computer Science, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA · Computing and Mathematical Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA · Kempner Institute, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA

  22. MARLEM: A Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning Simulation Framework for Implicit Cooperation in Decentralized Local Energy Markets

    Feb 17, 2026Nelson Salazar-Pena, Alejandra Tabares, Andres Gonzalez-ManceraMulti-Agent CoordinationPower Systems

    Department of Mechanical Engineering, Universidad de los Andes, 111711, Bogotá D.C., Colombia · Department of Industrial Engineering, Universidad de los Andes, 111711, Bogotá D.C., Colombia

  23. Harnessing Implicit Cooperation: A Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning Approach Towards Decentralized Local Energy Markets

    Feb 17, 2026Nelson Salazar-Pena, Alejandra Tabares, Andres Gonzalez-ManceraMulti-Agent CoordinationDecentralized MARL

    Department of Mechanical Engineering, Universidad de los Andes, 111711, Bogotá D.C., Colombia · Department of Industrial Engineering, Universidad de los Andes, 111711, Bogotá D.C., Colombia

  24. Fluid-Agent Reinforcement Learning

    Feb 16, 2026Shishir Sharma, Doina Precup, Theodore J. PerkinsMulti-Agent Reinforcement LearningMulti-Agent Coordination

    Mila – Quebec Artificial Intelligence Institute, Montreal, Canada · McGill University, Montreal, Canada · Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada

  25. Socially-Weighted Alignment: A Game-Theoretic Framework for Multi-Agent LLM Systems

    Feb 16, 2026Furkan Mumcu, Yasin YilmazCongestion GamesMulti-Agent LLM Systems

    University of South Florida

  26. Noncooperative Virtual Queue Coordination via Uncertainty-Aware Correlated Equilibria

    Feb 16, 2026Jaehan Im, David Fridovich-Keil, Ufuk TopcuAir Traffic ManagementMulti-Agent Coordination

    Department of Aerospace Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, USA

  27. Grounded Laplacians of Directed Signed Matrix-Weighted Networks: Spectral Properties and Applications to Non-Trivial Consensus

    Feb 12, 2026Tianmu Niu, Bing Mao, Hao Liao +2Multi-Agent CoordinationOpinion Dynamics

  28. Does Centralized Learning Help Embodied Agents Coordinate, and When Can a Tabular Study Tell?

    Jan 24, 2026Muhammad Ahmed Atif, Nehal Naeem Haji, Muhammad Ebad Atif +1Multi-Agent Reinforcement LearningCooperative MARL

    Dhanani School of Science and Technology, Habib University, Karachi, Pakistan

  29. MACRO-LLM: LLM-Empowered Multi-Agent Collaborative Reasoning under Spatiotemporal Partial Observability

    Jan 14, 2026Handi Chen, Running Zhao, Xiuzhe Wu +2Multi-Agent LLM SystemsMulti-Agent Coordination

    The University of Hong Kong

  30. The Axiom of Consent: Authorization, Friction, and Multi-Agent Coordination

    Jan 10, 2026Murad FarzullaMulti-Agent CoordinationReplicator Dynamics

    Dissensus, London, UK · King’s College London, London, UK