Too Many Specialists: Emergent Inefficiencies and Bottlenecks for Multi-agent Ad-hoc Collaboration
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arXiv
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| Autores principales: | , , , , |
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| Formato: | Preprint |
| Publicado: |
2026
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| Acceso en línea: | |
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| _version_ | 1866914546316214272 |
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| author | Panny, Benjamin Mehrotra, Shashank Zahedi, Zahra Misu, Teruhisa Akash, Kumar |
| author_facet | Panny, Benjamin Mehrotra, Shashank Zahedi, Zahra Misu, Teruhisa Akash, Kumar |
| contents | Computational models of collaboration without prior coordination often overlook how heterogeneous agent traits and complex task structures jointly produce systemic bottlenecks, inefficiencies, and contribution inequalities. We address this by using an agent-based model of ad-hoc teamwork in a kitchen environment. Our model integrates diverse agent personas with tasks that combine serial and parallel dependencies. We identify a specialist's dilemma, where rigid role assertion generates system-level bottlenecks, amplifies workload inequality, and fosters fragmented, homophilous networks. We also find that team size and communication overhead interact with problem structure to generate diminishing returns and redundant collaboration. Linking micro-level behavior to macro-level outcomes provides insights into emergent collaboration and design principles for effective multi-agent teamwork. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2605_08540 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Too Many Specialists: Emergent Inefficiencies and Bottlenecks for Multi-agent Ad-hoc Collaboration Panny, Benjamin Mehrotra, Shashank Zahedi, Zahra Misu, Teruhisa Akash, Kumar Multiagent Systems Human-Computer Interaction Computational models of collaboration without prior coordination often overlook how heterogeneous agent traits and complex task structures jointly produce systemic bottlenecks, inefficiencies, and contribution inequalities. We address this by using an agent-based model of ad-hoc teamwork in a kitchen environment. Our model integrates diverse agent personas with tasks that combine serial and parallel dependencies. We identify a specialist's dilemma, where rigid role assertion generates system-level bottlenecks, amplifies workload inequality, and fosters fragmented, homophilous networks. We also find that team size and communication overhead interact with problem structure to generate diminishing returns and redundant collaboration. Linking micro-level behavior to macro-level outcomes provides insights into emergent collaboration and design principles for effective multi-agent teamwork. |
| title | Too Many Specialists: Emergent Inefficiencies and Bottlenecks for Multi-agent Ad-hoc Collaboration |
| topic | Multiagent Systems Human-Computer Interaction |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.08540 |