Autonomous UAVs
Drones that fly themselves: autonomous path planning, swarm communication between drones, a delivery drone with vertical lift and wing-borne cruise, and obstacle avoidance with LiDAR or stereo cameras.
About this project
This track takes the club from flying drones by hand to drones that plan and fly their own routes. It builds on open-source autopilots (ArduPilot and PX4) and a companion computer that runs the planning and vision software.
Every new behaviour is proven in simulation (Gazebo with software-in-the-loop) before it flies, and flights follow India's Drone Rules, 2021: in green zones, below 120 m, with a safety pilot ready to take over.
What the team is working on
- Build an autonomous drone that plans and flies its own route between waypoints
- Test communication between several drones flying as a small swarm
- Design a delivery drone that lifts off vertically and cruises on a wing
- Add obstacle avoidance using LiDAR or stereo vision
Tools and technologies
- ArduPilot / PX4
- ROS 2
- Gazebo SITL
- Raspberry Pi / Jetson
- LiDAR
- Stereo vision (OpenCV)
- MAVLink
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