Consensus Learning for Cooperative Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning
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Abstract (arXiv)
Almost all multi-agent reinforcement learning algorithms without communication follow the principle of centralized training with decentralized execution. During centralized training, agents can be guided by the same signals, such as the global state. During decentralized execution, however, agents lack the shared signal. Inspired by viewpoint invariance and contrastive learning, we propose consensus learning for cooperative multi-agent reinforcement learning in this paper. Although based on local observations, different agents can infer the same consensus in discrete space. During decentralized execution, we feed the inferred consensus as an explicit input to the network of agents, thereby developing their spirit of cooperation. Our proposed method can be extended to various multi-agent reinforcement learning algorithms with small model changes. Moreover, we carry out them on some fully cooperative tasks and get convincing results.
Key facts. Cited by 8 papers in the map (data through 7 Oct 2026). Builds on 45 of its 55 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 6 Jun 2022.
Builds on
45 of 55 references.
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Built on by
Citing papers per year: 2023: 4; 2024: 1; 2025: 1; 2026: 2.
8 papers.
- 2023Controlling Large Language Model-based Agents for Large-Scale Decision-Making: An Actor-Critic Approachcited by 38
- 2023Advances in Embodied Navigation Using Large Language Models: A Surveycited by 14
- 2024Hierarchical Consensus-Based Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning for Multi-Robot Cooperation Taskscited by 12
- 2023From Explicit Communication to Tacit Cooperation:A Novel Paradigm for Cooperative MARLcited by 11
- 2023MAHTM: A Multi-Agent Framework for Hierarchical Transactive Microgridscited by 3
- 2025Decentralized Consensus Inference-based Hierarchical Reinforcement Learning for Multi-Constrained UAV Pursuit-Evasion Gamecited by 2
- 2026LLM-Guided Communication for Cooperative Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learningcited by 2
- 2026CCKS: Consensus-based Communication and Knowledge Sharingcited by 0
- 2026CCKS: Consensus-based Communication and Knowledge Sharing10 Jun 2026
- 2026LLM-Guided Communication for Cooperative Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning18 May 2026
- 2025Decentralized Consensus Inference-based Hierarchical Reinforcement Learning for Multi-Constrained UAV Pursuit-Evasion Game22 Jun 2025
- 2024Hierarchical Consensus-Based Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning for Multi-Robot Cooperation Tasks11 Jul 2024
- 2023Controlling Large Language Model-based Agents for Large-Scale Decision-Making: An Actor-Critic Approach23 Nov 2023
- 2023Advances in Embodied Navigation Using Large Language Models: A Survey1 Nov 2023
- 2023From Explicit Communication to Tacit Cooperation:A Novel Paradigm for Cooperative MARL28 Apr 2023
- 2023MAHTM: A Multi-Agent Framework for Hierarchical Transactive Microgrids15 Mar 2023