# LogicGuard: Improving Embodied LLM agents through Temporal Logic based Critics

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.03293 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2507.03293/

## Key facts

- Cited by 5 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Placed in General LLM agent frameworks and benchmarks, one of 16 directions in LLM agents and tool use.
- Builds on 25 of its 71 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 4 Jul 2025.

## Placed in

- LLM agents and tool use / [General LLM agent frameworks and benchmarks](https://mlsanity.com/agents/general-llm-agent-frameworks-and-benchmarks/)

## Builds on (most cited first, 25 of 25)

- [Chain-of-Thought Prompting Elicits Reasoning in Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2201.11903/) (2022)
- [Evaluating Large Language Models Trained on Code](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2107.03374/) (2021)
- [Do As I Can, Not As I Say: Grounding Language in Robotic Affordances](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2204.01691/) (2022)
- [Voyager: An Open-Ended Embodied Agent with Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2305.16291/) (2023)
- [Competition-Level Code Generation with AlphaCode](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2203.07814/) (2022)
- [Inner Monologue: Embodied Reasoning through Planning with Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2207.05608/) (2022)
- [Language Models as Zero-Shot Planners: Extracting Actionable Knowledge for Embodied Agents](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2201.07207/) (2022)
- [Towards Reasoning in Large Language Models: A Survey](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2212.10403/) (2022)
- [MineDojo: Building Open-Ended Embodied Agents with Internet-Scale Knowledge](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2206.08853/) (2022)
- [Safe Reinforcement Learning via Shielding](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1708.08611/) (2017)
- [VirtualHome: Simulating Household Activities via Programs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1806.07011/) (2018)
- [MineRL: A Large-Scale Dataset of Minecraft Demonstrations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1907.13440/) (2019)
- [iGibson 2.0: Object-Centric Simulation for Robot Learning of Everyday Household Tasks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2108.03272/) (2021)
- [Embodied Agent Interface: Benchmarking LLMs for Embodied Decision Making](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2410.07166/) (2024)
- [AutoTAMP: Autoregressive Task and Motion Planning with LLMs as Translators and Checkers](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2306.06531/) (2023)
- [Embodied Task Planning with Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2307.01848/) (2023)
- [Plug in the Safety Chip: Enforcing Constraints for LLM-driven Robot Agents](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2309.09919/) (2023)
- [NL2TL: Transforming Natural Languages to Temporal Logics using Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2305.07766/) (2023)
- [Grounding Complex Natural Language Commands for Temporal Tasks in Unseen Environments](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2302.11649/) (2023)
- [Safety Guardrails for LLM-Enabled Robots](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.07885/) (2025)
- [Empowering Autonomous Driving with Large Language Models: A Safety Perspective](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2312.00812/) (2023)
- [ControlAgent: Automating Control System Design via Novel Integration of LLM Agents and Domain Expertise](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2410.19811/) (2024)
- [PACE: Improving Prompt with Actor-Critic Editing for Large Language Model](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2308.10088/) (2023)
- [The Lighthouse of Language: Enhancing LLM Agents via Critique-Guided Improvement](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.16024/) (2025)
- [On-Device LLMs for Home Assistant: Dual Role in Intent Detection and Response Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.12923/) (2025)

## Built on by (most cited first, 5 of 5)

- [Environment-Grounded Automated Prompt Optimization for LLM Game Agents](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2606.17838/) (2026)
- [Toward Safe LLM Agents: A Survey of Specification, Verification, and Enforcement](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2608.14590/) (2026)
- [Structured LLM Reasoning for Zero-Shot Human--Robot Coordination Under Hidden Goals](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2608.04309/) (2026)
- [Security of Foundation-Model-Powered Embodied Agents: Attack Surfaces, Attacks, Defenses, and Evaluation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2608.16843/) (2026)
- [What Can Component-Replacement Evidence Establish? A Critical Scoping Review of Local Decisions in LLM Agents](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.39989/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Large language models (LLMs) have shown promise in zero-shot and single step reasoning and decision making problems, but in long horizon sequential planning tasks, their errors compound, often leading to unreliable or inefficient behavior. We introduce LogicGuard, a modular actor-critic architecture in which an LLM actor is guided by a trajectory level LLM critic that communicates through Linear Temporal Logic (LTL). Our setup combines the reasoning strengths of language models with the guarantees of formal logic. The actor selects high-level actions from natural language observations, while the critic analyzes full trajectories and proposes new LTL constraints that shield the actor from future unsafe or inefficient behavior. LogicGuard supports both fixed safety rules and adaptive, learned constraints, and is model-agnostic: any LLM-based planner can serve as the actor, with LogicGuard acting as a logic-generating wrapper. We formalize planning as graph traversal under symbolic constraints, allowing LogicGuard to analyze failed or suboptimal trajectories and generate new temporal logic rules that improve future behavior. To demonstrate generality, we evaluate LogicGuard across two distinct settings: short-horizon general tasks and long-horizon specialist tasks. On the Behavior benchmark of 100 household tasks, LogicGuard increases task completion rates by 25% over a baseline InnerMonologue planner. On the Minecraft diamond-mining task, which is long-horizon and requires multiple interdependent subgoals, LogicGuard improves both efficiency and safety compared to SayCan and InnerMonologue. These results show that enabling LLMs to supervise each other through temporal logic yields more reliable, efficient and safe decision-making for both embodied agents.