We describe a prototype 73 gram, 21 cm diameter micro quadrotor with onboard attitude estimation and control that operates autonomously with an external localization system. We argue that the reduction in size leads to agility and the ability to operate in tight formations and provide experimental arguments in support of this claim. The robot is shown to be capable of 1850 • /sec roll and pitch, performs a 360 • flip in 0.4 seconds and exhibits a lateral step response of 1 body length in 1 second. We describe the architecture and algorithms to coordinate a team of quadrotors, organize them into groups and fly through known three-dimensional environments. We provide experimental results for a team of 20 micro quadrotors.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.