Starting about 15 years ago with a few number of autonomous helicopter projects, the field of autonomous Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) is now composed of an increasing number of new robotic platforms including fixed-wing, rotary-wing and flapping-wing platforms. Several aerial robots are now capable of taking off, landing, hovering and avoiding obstacles autonomously thanks to their large payload that tolerates heavy and power-hungry avionics.
By contrast, autonomous flight in cluttered or indoor environments is still a real challenge. Very few aerial robotic platforms are capable of autonomous indoor flight with all signal-processing tasks running on-board. Unlike any flying insects, which boast extremely small avionic payloads, robotic solutions to small aerial vehicles autonomy seems to lead to the following conclusion: the smaller the UAV, the less autonomous its flight capabilities will be. By comparing different approaches, the workshop will identify possible ways to overcome the current trade-off existing between the UAV size and their flight abilities - which are still way behind those displayed by a common mosquito.