This paper presents a method to optimize the position and trajectory of each aerial vehicle within a large group that displays objects and animations in 3D space. The input is a single object or an animation created by an artist. In a first step, goal positions for the given number of vehicles and representing the object are optimized with respect to a known viewpoint. For displaying an animation, an optimal trajectory satisfying the dynamic constraints of each vehicle is computed using B-splines. Finally, a trajectory following controller is described, which provides the preferred velocity, later optimized to be collision-free with respect to all neighboring vehicles.

This paper presents a fully automated method to display objects and animations in 3D with a group of aerial vehicles. The system input is a single object or an animation (sequence of objects) created by an artist. The first stage is to generate physical goal configurations and robot colors to represent the objects with the available number of robots. The run-time system includes algorithms for goal assignment, path planning and local reciprocal collision avoidance that guarantee smooth, fast and oscillation-free motion. The presented algorithms are tested in simulations and verified with real quadrotor helicopters and scale to large robot swarms.