Multi-Robot Navigation in Social Mini-Games: Definitions, Taxonomy, and Algorithms

Rohan Chandra1, Shubham Singh2, Wenhao Luo3, Katia Sycara4
1University of Virginia, 2University of Texas at Austin, 3University of Illinois Chicago, 4Carnegie Mellon University
Accepted for publication in Autonomous Robots 2026
Paper arXiv Code

Interactive SMG Simulator

Experience collision-avoidance algorithms in real time. Pick a scenario, choose an algorithm, and hit Run.

Tip: Click on the canvas to place agents, then right-click to set goals. Drag agents or goals to reposition them.

What is a Social Mini-Game?

Social Mini-Games (SMGs) are tightly coupled, high-agency interactions that arise when two or more robots compete for space in constrained environments — doorways, hallways, corridor intersections. Unlike general multi-robot navigation, SMGs require specialized solvers and dedicated metrics because small actions significantly impact all agents involved.
SMG vs Not-an-SMG

An SMG arises when preferred trajectories conflict — forcing coordination.

9 Canonical SMG Scenarios

Doorway
Doorway
Intersection
Intersection
Hallway
Hallway
L-Corner
L-Corner
Blind Corner
Blind Corner
Crowded Traffic
Crowded
Parallel Traffic
Parallel
Perpendicular Traffic
Perpendicular
Circular Traffic
Circular

Taxonomy at a Glance

Click any category to see the papers classified under it.

Dimension Categories
Coordination Centralized Distributed Decentralized
Communication Communicated Uncommunicated
Deadlock Handling Prevention Resolution
Invasiveness Minimally Invasive Invasive
Cooperation Fully Cooperative Semi-Cooperative
Observability Full Local

SMG Solver Demos

Doorway

Social-ORCA

Social-ORCA in Doorway

IMPC-DR

IMPC-DR in Doorway

CADRL

CADRL in Doorway

Hallway

Social-ORCA

Social-ORCA in Hallway

IMPC-DR

IMPC-DR in Hallway

CADRL

CADRL in Hallway

Intersection

Social-ORCA

Social-ORCA in Intersection

IMPC-DR

IMPC-DR in Intersection

CADRL

CADRL in Intersection

BibTeX

@misc{chandra2025socialminigames,
      title={Multi-Robot Navigation in Social Mini-Games: Definitions, Taxonomy, and Algorithms},
    author={Rohan Chandra and Shubham Singh and Wenhao Luo and Katia Sycara},
      year={2025},
      eprint={2508.13459},
      archivePrefix={arXiv},
      primaryClass={cs.RO},
      url={https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.13459},
}