Enhance the capability of unmanned aerial vehicle with artificial intelligence

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have evolved from early remote-controlled flight platforms into aerial agents with capabilities for autonomous perception, intelligent decision-making, and collaborative operation, demonstrating significant potential across a wide range of applications. Mechatronics, as the physical foundation of UAVs, provides essential support for performance enhancement and functional expansion. However, achieving fully autonomous UAV operation still presents challenges, including real-time perception in unstructured environments, online decision-making under limited computational resources, and communication and privacy constraints in multi-agent collaboration. In recent years, artificial intelligence (AI) technologies such as federated learning, reinforcement learning, and large-scale models have shown strong potential in addressing these challenges. These advances have significantly improved UAV capabilities across multiple dimensions, including perception intelligence, decision intelligence, swarm intelligence, and general intelligence, thereby driving the emergence of a new generation of intelligent UAV systems.This Research Topic aims to explore the deep integration of mechatronics and AI in UAV systems, providing solutions to key challenges in complex operational scenarios. It covers theoretical breakthroughs, technological innovations, and engineering practices in areas such as autonomous navigation, target tracking, swarm exploration, and emergency response. In addition, we welcome research that applies AI technologies to UAV structural design, flight control optimization, system energy management, and safety and resilience enhancement. Through this Research Topic, we aim to accelerate the advancement of UAV technology toward higher levels of autonomy, intelligence, and collaboration.This Research Topic welcomes comprehensive reviews, original research articles, and application case studies related to, but not limited to, the following themes:• Integrated design of mechatronic systems and intelligent technologies • Intelligent perception and environmental understanding • Intelligent decision-making and autonomous control • Distributed intelligence and swarm collaboration • General intelligence based on large-scale models • AI-driven methods for electromechanical control • Intelligent energy management and safety in autonomous systems • Applications in specialized scenarios Topic editors: Sifan Chen, Zhensheng Wang, Chen Baihe, Chengbin Chen Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/79640/enhance-the-capability-of-unmanned-aerial-vehicle-with-artificial-intelligence