Flying multiple UAVs using ROS

Abstract

This tutorial chapter will teach readers how to use ROS to fly a small quadcopter both individually and as a group. We will discuss the hardware platform, the Bitcraze Crazyflie 2.0, which is well suited for swarm robotics due to its small size and weight. After first introducing the crazyflie_ros stack and its use on an individual robot, we will extend scenarios of hovering and waypoint following from a single robot to the more complex multi-UAV case. Readers will gain insight into physical challenges, such as radio interference, and how to solve them in practice. Ultimately, this chapter will prepare readers not only to use the stack as-is, but also to extend it or to develop their own innovations on other robot platforms.