Oyekan, John2016-09-152016-09-152016-08-18Oyekan, J. Bio-Inspired Vision-Based Leader-Follower Formation Flying in the Presence of Delays. Robotics, Volume 5, Issue 3, 2016, Article number 182218-6581http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/robotics5030018https://dspace.lib.cranfield.ac.uk/handle/1826/10534Flocking starlings at dusk are known for the mesmerizing and intricate shapes they generate, as well as how fluid these shapes change. They seem to do this effortlessly. Real-life vision-based flocking has not been achieved in micro-UAVs (micro Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) to date. Towards this goal, we make three contributions in this paper: (i) we used a computational approach to develop a bio-inspired architecture for vision-based Leader-Follower formation flying on two micro-UAVs. We believe that the minimal computational cost of the resulting algorithm makes it suitable for object detection and tracking during high-speed flocking; (ii) we show that provided delays in the control loop of a micro-UAV are below a critical value, Kalman filter-based estimation algorithms are not required to achieve Leader-Follower formation flying; (iii) unlike previous approaches, we do not use external observers, such as GPS signals or synchronized communication with flock members. These three contributions could be useful in achieving vision-based flocking in GPS-denied environments on computationally-limited agents.enAttribution 4.0 Internationalhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/bio-inspirationflockingvisiondelayscommunicationArticle