Research Area

Multi-Agent Systems and Stochastic Games

Pursuit, evasion, and cooperation - game-theoretic strategies for teams of agents that must decide without a central authority

4 Selected Projects
25 Selected Publications

The Multi-Agent Systems and Stochastic Games research area develops algorithms and theoretical frameworks for coordinating teams of autonomous agents in competitive and cooperative scenarios. Our work spans from game-theoretic foundations and distributed optimization to practical applications in robotics, autonomous systems, and strategic planning.

Our core research addresses differential games for pursuit-evasion scenarios, stochastic games under uncertainty, distributed decision-making, swarm coordination, and communication-limited control. We develop algorithms for decentralized optimization, game-theoretic equilibrium strategies, resilient multi-agent systems, and hierarchical coordination architectures.

Applications include multi-robot coordination, swarm intelligence, autonomous transportation, competitive agent scenarios, and resilient networked systems. We provide rigorous mathematical frameworks with convergence guarantees, performance bounds, and algorithms that scale to large populations of autonomous agents.

Sponsors

  • AFOSR
  • ARL
  • NSF
Selected Projects
Selected Publications
1.

Guan, Y., Zhou, M., Pakniyat, A., and Tsiotras, P. “Shaping Large Population Agent Behaviors Through Entropy-Regularized Mean-Field Games,” American Control Conference, Atlanta, GA, June 8-10 , 2022.

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2.

Guan, Y., Maity, D., Kroninger, C., and Tsiotras, P., “Bounded-Rational Pursuit-Evasion Games,” American Control Conference, New Orleans, LA, May 26-28, 2021, pp. 3216-3221.

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3.

Larsson, D., and Maity, D., and Tsiotras, P., “Information-Theoretic Abstractions for Planning for Agents with Computational Constraints,” IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, Vol. 6, No. 4, pp. 7651-7658, 2021.

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4.

Lim, J., Salzman, O., and Tsiotras, P., “Class-Ordered LPA : An Incremental-Search Algorithm for Weighted Colored Graphs,” IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, Prague, Czech Republic, Sept. 27-Oct. 1, 2021.

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5.

Lim, J., and Tsiotras, P., “A Generalized A* Algorithm for Finding Globally Optimal Paths in Weighted Colored Graphs,” International Conference on Robotics and Automation, Xi'an, China, May 30-June 5, 2021.

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6.

Zhang, Q., Guan, Y., and Tsiotras, P., “Learning Nash Equilibria in Zero-Sum Stochastic Games via Entropy-Regularized Policy Approximation,” 30th International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence, Montreal, Canada, Aug. 21-26, 2021, pp. 2462-2468.

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7.

Lim, J., and Tsiotras, P., “MAMS-A*: Multi-Agent Multi-Scale A*,” International Conference on Robotics and Automation, Paris, France, May 31-June 4, 2020.

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8.

Larsson, D., Kotsalis, G., and Tsiotras, P., “Nash and Correlated Equilibria for Pursuit- Evasion Games Under Lack of Common Knowledge,” 57th IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, Miami, FL, Dec. 17–19, 2018, pp. 3579–3584.

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9.

Makkapati, V. R., Sun, W., and Tsiotras, P., “Pursuit-Evasion Problems Involving Two Pursuers and One Evader,” AIAA Guidance, Navigation, and Control Conference, Kissimmee, FL, Jan. 8-12, 2018.

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10.

Makkapati, V. R., Dor, M., and Tsiotras, P., “Trajectory Desensitization in Optimal Control Problems,” 57th IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, Miami, FL, Dec. 17-19, 2018, pp. 2478-2483.

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11.

Sun, W., Pan, Y., Theodorou, E., and Tsiotras, P., “Min-Max Differential Dynamic Programming: Continuous and Discrete Time Formulations,” AIAA Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics, Vol. 41, No. 12, pp. 2568-2580, 2018.

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12.

Larsson, D., Braun, D., and Tsiotras, P., “Hierarchical State Abstractions for Decision-Making Problems with Computational Constraints,” 56th IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, Melbourne, Australia, Dec. 12-15, 2017, pp. 1138-1143.

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13.

Exarchos, I., Tsiotras, P., and Pachter, M., “UAV Collision Avoidance based on the Solution of the Suicidal Pedestrian Differential Game,” AIAA Guidance, Navigation, and Control Conference, San Diego, CA, January 4-8, 2016.

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14.

Sun, W., Theodorou, E. and Tsiotras, P., “Game Theoretic Continuous Time Differential Dynamic Programming,” American Control Conference, Chicago, IL, July 1-3, 2015, pp. 5593-5598.

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15.

Sun, W., and Tsiotras, P., “Pursuit Evasion Game of Two Players under an External Flow Field,” American Control Conference, Chicago, IL, July 1-3, 2015, pp. 5617-5622.

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16.

Exarchos, I., and Tsiotras, P., “An Asymmetric Version of the Two Car Pursuit-Evasion Game,” 53rd IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, Los Angeles, CA, Dec. 15-17, 2014, pp. 4272-4277.

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17.

Sun, W., Theodorou, E., and Tsiotras, P., “Continuous-Time Differential Dynamic Programming with Terminal Constraints,” IEEE Symposium on Adaptive Dynamic Programming and Reinforcement Learning, Orlando, FL, Dec. 9-12, 2014, pp. 289-294.

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18.

Sun, W. and Tsiotras, P., “An Optimal Evader Strategy in a Two-Pursuer One-Evader Problem,” 53rd IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, Los Angeles, CA, Dec. 15-17, 2014, pp. 4266-4271.

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19.

Bakolas, E. and Tsiotras, P., “Feedback Navigation in an Uncertain Flow-Field and Connections with Pursuit Strategies,” AIAA Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics, Vol. 35, No. 4, pp. 1268-1279, July-August 2012.

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20.

Bakolas, E. and Tsiotras, P., “Optimal Synthesis of the Zermelo-Markov-Dubins Problem in a Constant Drift Field,” Journal of Optimization Theory and Applications, Vol. 155, No. 2, Nov. 2012.

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21.

Bakolas, E., and Tsiotras, P., “Relay Pursuit of a Maneuvering Target Using Dynamic Voronoi Diagrams,” Automatica, Vol. 48, pp. 2213-2220, Aug. 2012.

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22.

Bakolas, E. and Tsiotras. P., “On the Relay Pursuit of a Maneuvering Target,” 50th IEEE Conference on Decision and Control and European Control Conference, Orlando, FL, Dec.12-15, 2011, pp. 4270-4275.

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23.

Bakolas, E. and Tsiotras, P., “Minimum-Time Paths for a Light Aircraft in the Presence of Regionally-Varying Strong Winds,” Infotech at Aerospace, Atlanta, GA, April 20-22, 2010.

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24.

Bakolas, E. and Tsiotras, P., “Optimal Pursuit of Moving Targets using Dynamic Voronoi Diagrams,” 49th IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, Atlanta, GA, Dec. 15-17, 2010, pp. 7431-7436.

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25.

Bakolas, E. and Tsiotras, P., “Time-Optimal Synthesis for the Zermelo-Markov-Dubins Problem: the Constant Wind Case,” American Control Conference, Baltimore, MD, June 30-July 2, 2010.

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