A Progress-Aware Leader-Follower Midair Docking System for Dual-Drone Aerial Manipulation
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arXiv
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Preprint |
| Published: |
2026
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| _version_ | 1866914612533788672 |
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| author | Cai, Yifan Tan, Jan Ming Kevin Li, Xiangqi Jin, Chenzhe Kemsaram, Narsimlu Modugno, Valerio |
| author_facet | Cai, Yifan Tan, Jan Ming Kevin Li, Xiangqi Jin, Chenzhe Kemsaram, Narsimlu Modugno, Valerio |
| contents | Reliable midair docking between small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) is essential for modular aerial cooperation and manipulation, but it requires precise relative-pose control and repeatable platform under tight thrust and payload constraints. We present a dual-drone docking platform where two quadrotors operate in a leader-follower formation and dock using a lightweight modular frame with passive magnetic latching. A progress-aware mission supervisor manages phase transitions: approach, alignment, capture, and settle. This platform integrates a complete hardware-software stack (ROS 2 with Crazyflie/PX4 interfaces) and synchronized logging for benchmark evaluation. We evaluate the platform in simulation and real-world experiments using quantitative metrics such as formation error, baseline and yaw consistency, docking success rate, time-to-dock, and failure-mode statistics. The platform enables statistically grounded comparison of docking supervision and synchronization strategies and provides a practical testbed for modular aerial cooperation and repeatable midair aerial manipulation. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2605_29410 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | A Progress-Aware Leader-Follower Midair Docking System for Dual-Drone Aerial Manipulation Cai, Yifan Tan, Jan Ming Kevin Li, Xiangqi Jin, Chenzhe Kemsaram, Narsimlu Modugno, Valerio Robotics Reliable midair docking between small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) is essential for modular aerial cooperation and manipulation, but it requires precise relative-pose control and repeatable platform under tight thrust and payload constraints. We present a dual-drone docking platform where two quadrotors operate in a leader-follower formation and dock using a lightweight modular frame with passive magnetic latching. A progress-aware mission supervisor manages phase transitions: approach, alignment, capture, and settle. This platform integrates a complete hardware-software stack (ROS 2 with Crazyflie/PX4 interfaces) and synchronized logging for benchmark evaluation. We evaluate the platform in simulation and real-world experiments using quantitative metrics such as formation error, baseline and yaw consistency, docking success rate, time-to-dock, and failure-mode statistics. The platform enables statistically grounded comparison of docking supervision and synchronization strategies and provides a practical testbed for modular aerial cooperation and repeatable midair aerial manipulation. |
| title | A Progress-Aware Leader-Follower Midair Docking System for Dual-Drone Aerial Manipulation |
| topic | Robotics |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.29410 |