Advances in Collaborative Autonomy: Hybrid Multi-UAV/Robot Systems for Complex Environments
A special issue of Electronics (ISSN 2079-9292). This special issue belongs to the section "Systems & Control Engineering".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 September 2026 | Viewed by 168
Editor
Interests: AUV; marine robotics; robotic control; artificial intelligence application, including autonomous computing of marine robots
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Multi-UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) systems and mobile robots represent a transformative frontier in autonomous systems, enabling complex tasks through coordination, collaboration, and distributed intelligence. These systems leverage advancements in robotics, artificial intelligence, and communication technologies to perform missions that are inefficient, dangerous, or impossible for single agents or humans. The convergence of multi-UAV systems with ground-based mobile robots further enhances operational scope, creating hybrid teams capable of addressing multi-domain challenges. However, key hurdles remain, including ensuring safety and regulatory compliance, managing energy autonomy, safeguarding against cybersecurity threats, and improving the systems' adaptability to unpredictable real-world conditions. Ongoing research aims to bridge these gaps, pushing toward fully autonomous, scalable, and trustworthy multi-robot systems that can seamlessly integrate into societal frameworks, ultimately augmenting human capabilities and operational efficiency across numerous sectors. Research in this domain focuses on several interconnected pillars: swarm intelligence and cooperative control, where decentralized algorithms enable emergent, resilient group behaviors; communication and networking, ensuring reliable, low-latency data exchange even in adversarial conditions; task planning and allocation, optimizing the distribution of objectives across a heterogeneous fleet; and human–swarm interaction, developing intuitive interfaces for supervisory control and collaborative tasking.
The topics of interest include, but are not limited to the following:
- Swarm intelligence and cooperative control.
- Communication and networking.
- Task planning, allocation, and optimization.
- Human–swarm interaction.
- AI-based cooperative control.
- Heterogeneous robot swarms.
- Efficient wireless swarm communication.
- Cooperative navigation and position.
- Fail-safe control circuit.
- Fault-tolerant cooperative control.
Dr. Daxiong Ji
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Electronics is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- modeling and identification
- control based on trajectory planning/optimization
- heterogeneous robot cluster system
- multiple unmanned aerial systems
- cross-domain robot cluster system collaborative control
- control based on intelligent learning
Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue
- Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
- Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
- Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
- External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
- Reprint: MDPI Books provides the opportunity to republish successful Special Issues in book format, both online and in print.
Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.
