Aerial robotics is one of the fastest growing areas of research and development in engineering. Flying robots can be effective in many areas of work where elevation and rapid response are required. These include search and rescue operations, inspection and in-situ repair with flying robots, assisted agriculture, environmental monitoring and exploration of hazardous environments.

Dr Mirko Kovac is Head of the Aerial Robotics Lab at Imperial College London. His research focuses on the design, fabrication and testing of next generation flying robots, employing biological inspiration as a key design methodology to achieve high performance systems.