# Behavior Trees with Dataflow: Coordinating Reactive Tasks in Lingua Franca

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2401.09185 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2401.09185/

## Key facts

- Cited by 3 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 17 Jan 2024.

## Built on by (most cited first, 3 of 3)

- [A Behavior Tree-inspired programming language for autonomous agents](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2412.08654/) (2024)
- [Towards An LLM-Driven Unified Conversion Framework for BT and FSM in Autonomous Intelligent Systems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.29228/) (2026)
- [APTree: Extended Behavior Trees for Adaptive and Scalable Automated Robotic Task Planning in Construction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2610.18523/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Behavior Trees (BTs) provide a lean set of control flow elements that are easily composable in a modular tree structure. They are well established for modeling the high-level behavior of non-player characters in computer games and recently gained popularity in other areas such as industrial automation. While BTs nicely express control, data handling aspects so far must be provided separately, e. g. in the form of blackboards. This may hamper reusability and can be a source of nondeterminism. We here present a dataflow extension to BTs that explicitly models data relations and communication. We provide a combined textual/graphical approach in line with modern, productivity-enhancing pragmatics-aware modeling techniques. We realized and validated that approach in the recently introduced polyglot coordination language Lingua Franca (LF).