Distributed Motion Planning and Control of Autonomous Ground and Aerial Vehicles

An autonomous ground vehicle (AGV) carrying one or multiple unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to perform one or multiple tasks necessitating visiting one or multiple target locations is controlled by determining a reachable set defining a region of space including a target location for performing the task and a difference between a launch time span for launching the UAV and a recovery time span recovering the UAV. The AGV motion trajectory prescribes the AGV to be in a launch location within the reachable set at a launch time within the launch time span and in a recovery location within the reachable set at a recovery time within the recovery time span subject to a constraint on the difference between the launch time span and the recovery time span.