A Progress-Aware Leader-Follower Midair Docking System for Dual-Drone Aerial Manipulation
This paper presents 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. The platform integrates a complete hardware-software stack (ROS 2 with Crazyflie/PX4 interfaces) and is evaluated in simulation and real-world experiments using quantitative metrics such as formation error, docking success rate, and time-to-dock.
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Key points
- Dual-drone midair docking platform with leader-follower formation and passive magnetic latching.
- Progress-aware mission supervisor overseeing approach, alignment, capture, and settle phases.
- Integrated hardware-software stack using ROS 2, Crazyflie, and PX4 interfaces.
- Evaluated in simulation and real-world experiments with quantitative performance metrics.
Why it matters
This matters because dual-drone midair docking platform with leader-follower formation and passive magnetic latching.
Technical impact
May affect agent architecture, tool calling, workflow automation, and product integration.
[2605.29410] A Progress-Aware Leader-Follower Midair Docking System for Dual-Drone Aerial Manipulation
[Submitted on 28 May 2026]
Title:A Progress-Aware Leader-Follower Midair Docking System for Dual-Drone Aerial Manipulation
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Abstract: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.
Comments: This paper has been accepted for publication in the Proceedings of the 2026 IEEE 22nd International Conference on Automation Science and Engineering (CASE 2026), August 17-21, 2026, Shenyang, China
Subjects:
Robotics (cs.RO)
Cite as: arXiv:2605.29410 [cs.RO]
(or arXiv:2605.29410v1 [cs.RO] for this version)
https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2605.29410
arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite (pending registration)
Submission history
From: Narsimlu Kemsaram Dr [view email] [v1] Thu, 28 May 2026 06:00:52 UTC (6,906 KB)
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