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Deep reinforcement learning (RL) has made it possible to solve complex robotics problems using neural networks as function approximators. However, the policies trained on stationary environments suffer in terms of generalization when…
Creating a graduate-level software engineering breadth course is challenging. The scope is wide. Students prefer hands-on work over theory. Industry increasingly values soft skills. Changing software technology requires the syllabus to be…
Although quadrotors, and aerial robots in general, are inherently active agents, their perceptual capabilities in literature so far have been mostly passive in nature. Researchers and practitioners today use traditional computer vision…
Quadrotor drones equipped with high quality cameras have rapidely raised as novel, cheap and stable devices for filmmakers. While professional drone pilots can create aesthetically pleasing videos in short time, the smooth -- and…
This paper experimentally evaluates continuum deformation cooperative control for the first time. Theoretical results are expanded to place a bounding triangle on the leader-follower system such that the team is contained despite nontrivial…
In this paper, we present a control system that allows a drone to fly autonomously through a series of gates marked with ArUco tags. A simple and low-cost DJI Tello EDU quad-rotor platform was used. Based on the API provided by the…
Deep reinforcement learning provides a promising approach for vision-based control of real-world robots. However, the generalization of such models depends critically on the quantity and variety of data available for training. This data can…
We describe a method for formation-change trajectory planning for large quadrotor teams in obstacle-rich environments. Our method decomposes the planning problem into two stages: a discrete planner operating on a graph representation of the…
In this study, reinforcement learning was applied to learning two-dimensional path planning including obstacle avoidance by unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) in an indoor environment. The task assigned to the UAV was to reach the goal position…
The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed the importance of digital fabrication to enable online learning, which remains a challenge for robotics courses. We introduce a teaching methodology that allows students to participate remotely in a…
Hybrid unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) integrate the efficient forward flight of fixed-wing and vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) capabilities of multicopter UAVs. This paper presents the modeling, control and simulation of a new type of…
We autonomously direct a small quadcopter package delivery Uncrewed Aerial Vehicle (UAV) or "drone" to take off, fly a specified route, and land for a total of 209 flights while varying a set of operational parameters. The vehicle was…
Drones, like most airborne aerial vehicles, face inherent disadvantages in achieving agile flight due to their limited thrust capabilities. These physical constraints cannot be fully addressed through advancements in control algorithms…
This letter introduces DiffAero, a lightweight, GPU-accelerated, and fully differentiable simulation framework designed for efficient quadrotor control policy learning. DiffAero supports both environment-level and agent-level parallelism…
The problem of autonomous launch and landing of a tethered rigid aircraft for airborne wind energy generation is addressed. The system operates with ground-based power conversion and pumping cycles, where the tether is repeatedly reeled in…
To enhance the undergraduate and graduate engineering education for nanoscale materials, devices and systems, we report a multi-disciplinary course based on the integration of theory, hands-on laboratory and hands-on computation into a…
Over 600,000 bridges in the U.S. must be inspected every two years to identify flaws, defects, or potential problems that may need follow-up maintenance. Bridge inspection has adopted unmanned aerial vehicles (or drones) for improving…
Drones are a versatile platform for both amateur and professional photographers, enabling them to capture photos that are impossible to shoot with ground-based cameras. However, when guided by inexperienced pilots, they have a high…
Multicopters are becoming increasingly important in both civil and military fields. Currently, most multicopter propulsion systems are designed by experience and trial-and-error experiments, which are costly and ineffective. This paper…
Agile flights of autonomous quadrotors in cluttered environments require constrained motion planning and control subject to translational and rotational dynamics. Traditional model-based methods typically demand complicated design and heavy…