Mutualistic Interactions in Heterogeneous Multi-Agent Systems

This paper presents a collaboration strategy that enables heterogeneous agents, i.e., different capabilities and dynamics, to accomplish tasks by working together. The collaboration between multiple agents is inspired by the ecological concept known as a mutualism, an interaction between two or more species that benefits everyone involved. A collaborative act is made possible through the composition of barrier functions, which allows the heterogeneous agents to work together safely. Moreover, a measure of collaborative potential is established to assess the merit of agents interacting with each other. Furthermore, the collaboration framework is provided for a general multi-agent setting. Finally, the collaboration framework's efficacy is demonstrated in two case studies that necessitate collaboration between the heterogeneous agents to complete their respective tasks.