What is a drone?
Geometry and control of drones

A drone will be seen here as a solid capable of moving autonomously in a fluid environment (air or water). The following are not considered to be drones :

• a manipulator robot that is articulated and therefore not a solid body;

• autonomous cars because they do not move in a fluid;

• autonomous boats because they operate at the interface between two fluids;

• satellites not supported by a fluid.

A drone therefore belongs to the class of autonomous mobile robots. It includes :

• sensors that collect information about its environment and condition, such as its orientation and position;

• actuators that enable movement;

• an intelligence (or controller), which calculates how to act on the actuators based on the information collected, in order to move in the desired direction.

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