mlsanityData to 14 Oct 2026

Observe, Share, or Predict? Disentangling Partner Information in Embodied Multi-Agent Collaboration

arXiv 2610.16895 ↗First posted 12 Oct 2026cs.AI cs.ROcited by 0

On the map: LLM agents and tool use → Multimodal and embodied agents also fits: General LLM agent frameworks and benchmarks

Abstract (arXiv)

LLMs are used as high-level controllers for embodied agents, but it remains unclear whether they support collaborative reasoning, such as anticipating a collaborator's actions in real-time teamwork without dialogue. We ask if observing the partner's state, exchanging object knowledge, and predicting the partner's next action, shape task outcomes and coordination when agents can share percepts but never intentions, plans, or task-level messages, and whether the two agents occupy symmetric roles. Using the Habitat-based PARTNR benchmark, we introduce a Decoupled Partial Observability regime that enforces strictly individual perception, and we augment decentralized zero-shot ReAct planners with Other Agent's State (OAS) observation, object Knowledge Exchange (KE) between co-located agents, and Other Agent's Next Action (OANA) prediction, evaluated on the full 2 x 2 x 2 grid with four planners on 1,000 validation tasks. OAS observation improves task quality, reducing extraneous effort for every planner, whereas KE primarily improves execution efficiency, cutting simulation steps by up to 25% with little change in success. The two are largely redundant for strong planners but complementary for the weakest, for which KE without the OAS is the worst configuration. OANA prediction lowers the success rate in 15 of 16 model x context pairs while raising explicit partner mentions to 55-100%, and its accuracy gains lie mainly in the coarse action type, partly because agents recognize the action the partner is already performing. The robot retrieves objects sooner and completes its tasks earlier than the simulated human. Shared context reduces total task time by shortening the remaining duration that the human works alone. Also, coordination benefits arise from responding to shared context, especially the OAS, rather than explicit anticipation, yielding shallow, planner-dependent partner modeling.

Key facts. No citing papers in the map yet (data through 14 Oct 2026). Placed in Multimodal and embodied agents, one of 16 directions in LLM agents and tool use. Builds on 32 of its 39 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 12 Oct 2026.

Builds on

32 of 39 references.

Closest ancestors · 2

Same direction, newest first

  1. 2025LLM-Empowered Embodied Agent for Memory-Augmented Task Planning in Household Robotics30 Apr
  2. 2024PARTNR: A Benchmark for Planning and Reasoning in Embodied Multi-agent Tasks31 Oct

Other references · 30

  1. 2022ReAct: Synergizing Reasoning and Acting in Language Modelscited by 8,695
  2. 2023The Rise and Potential of Large Language Model Based Agents: A Surveycited by 1,439
  3. 2023Building Cooperative Embodied Agents Modularly with Large Language Modelscited by 237
  4. 2023Habitat 3.0: A Co-Habitat for Humans, Avatars and Robotscited by 228
  5. 2023Evaluating Large Language Models in Theory of Mind Taskscited by 222
  6. 2023Grammar-Constrained Decoding for Structured NLP Tasks without Finetuningcited by 197
  7. 2023Understanding Social Reasoning in Language Models with Language Modelscited by 172
  8. 2023Habitat Synthetic Scenes Dataset (HSSD-200): An Analysis of 3D Scene Scale and Realism Tradeoffs for ObjectGoal Navigationcited by 167
  9. 2023Clever Hans or Neural Theory of Mind? Stress Testing Social Reasoning in Large Language Modelscited by 163
  10. 2017Deep Decentralized Multi-task Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning under Partial Observabilitycited by 148
  11. 2023Theory of Mind for Multi-Agent Collaboration via Large Language Modelscited by 135
  12. 2024Emergent social conventions and collective bias in LLM populationscited by 123
18 more
  1. 2024LLM Multi-Agent Systems: Challenges and Open Problemscited by 120
  2. 2025Agentic Large Language Models, a surveycited by 108
  3. 2023Scalable Multi-Robot Collaboration with Large Language Models: Centralized or Decentralized Systems?cited by 106
  4. 2024LLMs achieve adult human performance on higher-order theory of mind taskscited by 61
  5. 2021ToM2C: Target-oriented Multi-agent Communication and Cooperation with Theory of Mindcited by 58
  6. 2024SimpleToM: Exposing the Gap between Explicit ToM Inference and Implicit ToM Application in LLMscited by 57
  7. 2024Hypothetical Minds: Scaffolding Theory of Mind for Multi-Agent Tasks with Large Language Modelscited by 48
  8. 2025Large Language Models for Multi-Robot Systems: A Surveycited by 27
  9. 2024ACC-Collab: An Actor-Critic Approach to Multi-Agent LLM Collaborationcited by 24
  10. 2025Collaborating Action by Action: A Multi-agent LLM Framework for Embodied Reasoningcited by 21
  11. 2025Large Language Models as Theory of Mind Aware Generative Agents with Counterfactual Reflectioncited by 13
  12. 2025Multi-Agent LLM Actor-Critic Framework for Social Robot Navigationcited by 8
  13. 2025Collaborate, Deliberate, Evaluate: How LLM Alignment Affects Coordinated Multi-Agent Outcomescited by 7
  14. 2024Locally Interdependent Multi-Agent MDP: Theoretical Framework for Decentralized Agents with Dynamic Dependenciescited by 6
  15. 2025Strategic Communication and Language Bias in Multi-Agent LLM Coordinationcited by 5
  16. 2026From Assumptions to Actions: Turning LLM Reasoning into Uncertainty-Aware Planning for Embodied Agentscited by 5
  17. 2025PerspAct: Enhancing LLM Situated Collaboration Skills through Perspective Taking and Active Visioncited by 2
  18. 2025Evaluation of Habitat Robotics using Large Language Modelscited by 1

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