The goal for “Recent Advancement of IndoorLight-Than-Air Agents Workshop”, organized by Dr. Ningshi Yao, Dr. Fumin Zhang and Dr. Donald Sofge, is to disseminate the latest breakthroughs in Light-Than-Air (LTA) agents, i.e., robotic blimps, within the dynamic context of advanced intelligent mechatronics. This workshop is motivated by significant recent advances in unmanned aerial vehicles and the demands of convenient platforms to support experiments and demonstrations. As a new type of aerial robots, LTA robots provides natural cushioning and lift, making them a unique robotic platform that offers a relatively long flight duration and quiet sound profile. Blimps do not impose the threats that quad-rotors can cause humans and the environment, which can serve as a safe platform to be used for various applications. However, one challenge of developing and deploying LTA agents is the trade-off between size and payload. Small indoor blimps can only carry a very limited amount of payload (normally less than 150 grams) that restricts the battery, sensors, actuations, and computation onboard. This challenge motivates researchers to push boundaries to design new and lighter mechatronics, more efficient locomotion, and smarter control and decisionmaking process for the LTA agents. In this workshop, we reported recent research achievements and identify these relevant challenges, as well as a review for testbed and facilities for this domain of research.
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