Probing Dec-POMDP Reasoning in Cooperative MARL
Kale-ab Tessera, Leonard Hinckeldey, Riccardo Zamboni, David Abel, Amos Storkey
https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.20804 https://arxiv.org/pdf/2602.20804 https://arxiv.org/html/2602.20804
arXiv:2602.20804v1 Announce Type: new
Abstract: Cooperative multi-agent reinforcement learning (MARL) is typically framed as a decentralised partially observable Markov decision process (Dec-POMDP), a setting whose hardness stems from two key challenges: partial observability and decentralised coordination. Genuinely solving such tasks requires Dec-POMDP reasoning, where agents use history to infer hidden states and coordinate based on local information. Yet it remains unclear whether popular benchmarks actually demand this reasoning or permit success via simpler strategies. We introduce a diagnostic suite combining statistically grounded performance comparisons and information-theoretic probes to audit the behavioural complexity of baseline policies (IPPO and MAPPO) across 37 scenarios spanning MPE, SMAX, Overcooked, Hanabi, and MaBrax. Our diagnostics reveal that success on these benchmarks rarely requires genuine Dec-POMDP reasoning. Reactive policies match the performance of memory-based agents in over half the scenarios, and emergent coordination frequently relies on brittle, synchronous action coupling rather than robust temporal influence. These findings suggest that some widely used benchmarks may not adequately test core Dec-POMDP assumptions under current training paradigms, potentially leading to over-optimistic assessments of progress. We release our diagnostic tooling to support more rigorous environment design and evaluation in cooperative MARL.
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Well I think I just found and root caused accidental O(n^2) behavior in a piece of commercial software that was turning what should have a been a few-second operation into six minutes.
It's sooo nice working with cooperative vendors. Finding and root causing the bug took me only a couple of minutes in VTune thanks to the vendor sharing a non-stripped binary with me to help me troubleshoot.
I live in Bergen, Norway. I’m not a fan of political parties, and I really value living in shared, cooperative communities.
Lately, I’ve felt guilty for not taking part in the recent protests in solidarity with Rojava, I wish I’d done my part.
Don’t be like me, get out there, protest, support your community, and don’t stay quiet.
#Rojava
Logistics fleets are highly sensitive to energy costs, so charging rates must be as low as possible to enable the transition to battery-electric vehicles.
A French cooperative of logistics operators is targeting a shared charging infrastructure with a market-leading rate of just €0.20/kWh.
Oh yeah, if anyone wants to join us on trying to survive; we have our B42 dedicated server up and running! Ping me for details.
Server is strictly cooperative PvE and I tried to adjust the settings to make it a bit easier to survive.
#ProjectZomboid
So now that Meet.Coop isn't working (they shut down the @… instance and don't seem to be able to bring it back) wondering if anyone knows of another #privacy or #cooperative
Good Morning #Canada
A few weeks ago our local #CBCradio host was interviewing an debt counselor, likely due to the arrival of Christmas credit card bills. The segment reinforced the data that Canadians carry high levels of debt, unfortunately among the highest percentage of income worldwide. Mortgage debt, according to ##StatsCan, is flat to slightly declining, likely because new home purchases by younger Canadians is down, but car loans, personal lines of credit, and credit card debt are all up in 2025.
Our government continues to try and respond by offering tax credits and supplemental payments which invariably get sucked up by corporations. They have to change the game - build public housing or invest in leasehold or cooperative homes, build public options for utilities, internet, food or other necessities. Invest heavily in public transit and subsidize it so that it's low cost or free. Remove corporate profits from necessities.
#CanadaIsAwesome #Finance
https://globalnews.ca/news/11544814/canadians-debts-rise-survey/
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