# Concrete multi-agent path planning enabling kinodynamically aggressive maneuvers

## TL;DR

This paper introduces a new hybrid planning method for multi-robot systems that enables efficient and agile navigation in crowded environments.

## Contribution

The novel 'concrete planning' framework combines continuous dynamics with discrete search for scalable and physically realistic multi-robot coordination.

## Key findings

- The framework successfully coordinates 40 robots in a compact, time-varying environment.
- Aggressive maneuvers significantly reduce task completion time without collisions or deadlocks.
- The method maintains scalability and guarantees coordination safety in dense setups.

## Abstract

Coordinated trajectory planning is essential for multi-robot applications, ranging from factory automation to entertainment. The main challenge is providing long-term coordination guarantees, such as freedom from collisions, deadlocks, and livelocks, as well as kinodynamic agility, especially in densely populated environments. Although continuous optimization provides agility, it is computationally expensive. In contrast, discrete search is scalable but lacks physical realism for robot execution. This study introduces concrete planning, a hybrid approach that captures real-world continuous dynamics while maintaining scalable guaranteed planning via discrete search. We integrate recent advances in robot dynamics learning, optimal control, and anytime complete planning into a modular framework. The framework is deployed with 40 robots, including 20 aerial, 8 ground, and 12 obstacle robots, operating in a compact laboratory space. Despite the dense and time-varying setup, the robots achieve consecutive navigation missions on-demand, while executing aggressive maneuvers that substantially reduce task completion time.