Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Butler, Brooks A., Tan, Xiao, Ames, Aaron D., Egerstedt, Magnus
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
Subjects:
Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.04772
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866908940086804480
author Butler, Brooks A.
Tan, Xiao
Ames, Aaron D.
Egerstedt, Magnus
author_facet Butler, Brooks A.
Tan, Xiao
Ames, Aaron D.
Egerstedt, Magnus
contents This paper presents a novel framework for ensuring safety in dynamically coupled multi-agent systems through collaborative control. Drawing inspiration from ecological models of altruism, we develop collaborative control barrier functions that allow agents to cooperatively enforce individual safety constraints under coupling dynamics. We introduce an altruistic safety condition based on the so-called Hamilton's rule, enabling agents to trade off their own safety to support higher-priority neighbors. By incorporating these conditions into a distributed optimization framework, we demonstrate increased feasibility and robustness in maintaining system-wide safety. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is illustrated through simulation in a simplified formation control scenario.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2604_04772
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Collaborative Altruistic Safety in Coupled Multi-Agent Systems
Butler, Brooks A.
Tan, Xiao
Ames, Aaron D.
Egerstedt, Magnus
Optimization and Control
Systems and Control
This paper presents a novel framework for ensuring safety in dynamically coupled multi-agent systems through collaborative control. Drawing inspiration from ecological models of altruism, we develop collaborative control barrier functions that allow agents to cooperatively enforce individual safety constraints under coupling dynamics. We introduce an altruistic safety condition based on the so-called Hamilton's rule, enabling agents to trade off their own safety to support higher-priority neighbors. By incorporating these conditions into a distributed optimization framework, we demonstrate increased feasibility and robustness in maintaining system-wide safety. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is illustrated through simulation in a simplified formation control scenario.
title Collaborative Altruistic Safety in Coupled Multi-Agent Systems
topic Optimization and Control
Systems and Control
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.04772