https://omerkurkutlu.github.io/tags/crazyflie/CrazyflieHugoBlox Kit (https://hugoblox.com)en-usThu, 02 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://omerkurkutlu.github.io/media/icon_hu_eee4a95885829ab2.pnghttps://omerkurkutlu.github.io/tags/crazyflie/https://omerkurkutlu.github.io/projects/tinydrone-micronav/Thu, 02 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://omerkurkutlu.github.io/projects/tinydrone-micronav/<h2 id="overview">Overview</h2> <p>TinyDrone-MicroNav is an autonomous navigation framework for nano aerial vehicles that enables safe and efficient navigation using onboard perception and lightweight planning algorithms. The project focuses on resource-constrained platforms such as the Crazyflie 2.1 and aims to bridge the gap between simulation and real-world deployment.</p> <h2 id="motivation">Motivation</h2> <p>Autonomous navigation remains challenging for ultra-lightweight drones because of their limited sensing, computation, memory, and battery capacity. This project investigates how lightweight perception, planning, and learning algorithms can enable reliable navigation in dynamic environments.</p> <h2 id="key-features">Key Features</h2> <ul> <li>Vision-based autonomous navigation</li> <li>Dynamic obstacle avoidance</li> <li>Local path planning</li> <li>Global recovery strategy</li> <li>Webots simulation</li> <li>Crazyflie 2.1 deployment</li> <li>Simulation-to-real transfer</li> <li>Lightweight algorithms for embedded platforms</li> </ul> <h2 id="hardware">Hardware</h2> <ul> <li>Crazyflie 2.1</li> <li>Multi-ranger Deck</li> <li>Flow Deck</li> <li>Onboard IMU</li> </ul> <h2 id="software">Software</h2> <ul> <li>Python</li> <li>Webots</li> <li>Crazyflie Python Library</li> <li>OpenCV</li> <li>NumPy</li> </ul> <h2 id="current-research">Current Research</h2> <p>Current work focuses on integrating:</p> <ul> <li>Deep Reinforcement Learning</li> <li>Vision-Language-Action Models</li> <li>TinyML</li> <li>Embedded AI</li> <li>Efficient onboard perception</li> </ul> <p>to improve autonomous navigation under severe computational constraints.</p> <h2 id="future-work">Future Work</h2> <p>Future directions include:</p> <ul> <li>End-to-end visual navigation</li> <li>Multi-drone collaboration</li> <li>Real-world outdoor navigation</li> <li>Embedded deployment of foundation models</li> <li>Fully onboard autonomous flight</li> </ul> <h2 id="project-status">Project Status</h2> <p><strong>Status:</strong> 🚧 Active Research Project</p> <p>This project is currently under active development as part of my PhD research at the University of Illinois Chicago.</p>