We run OKVIS on our multicopter drones as a basis for fully autonomous operation. We are exploring several Model-Predictive Controllers (MPC) and are working on model-based motion planning for save navigation through free space that is reconstructed by our dense SLAM algorithms.

We have participated in the Mohamed Bin Zayed International Robotics Challenge (MBZIRC) 2017 in Abu Dhabi together with members from Imperial’s Aerial Robotics Lab. We were admitted to the finals with some of the most well-known robotics groups from all over the world. We also regularly demonstrate our drone-related research at the Imperial Festival.

More recently, we have also been exploring aggressive drone flight and motor failure identification and recovery employing Non-linear Model Predictive Control (NMPC). The scheme lets the drones fly aerobatic maneouvers it has never seen (learnt) before and deal with failures in an optimal way by considering the identified non-linear drone dynamics.

Former collaborators:

• Dr Dimos Tzoumanikas (previously SRL Imperial College)
• Qingyue Yan (previously SRL Imperial College)
• Marius Grimm (previously SRL Imperial College and ETH Zurich)
• Wenbin Li (previously SRL Imperial College, now University of Bath)

Collaboration within the Aerial Additive Manufacturing project:

• Aerial Robotics Lab at Imperial College (Dr Mirko Kovac, Dr Ketao Zhang, and many more)
• UCL (Dr Robert Stuart-Smith, Dr Vijay Pawar, and many more)
• University of Bath (Dr Chris C.K. Williams, Dr Richard Ball, Dr Paul Shepherd, and many more)

Former collaborators at ETH Zurich:

• Dr Philipp Oettershagen
• Dr Konrad Rudin
• Amir Melzer
• Thomas Mantel
• Dr Michael Burri
• Dr Markus Achtelik
• Dr Kostas Alexis
• Prof. Roland Siegwart