Human–Robot Interaction
Exploring Collaboration, Trust , and Learning
Human–Robot Interaction (HRI) examines how people and robots communicate, collaborate, and influence one another. As autonomous systems become increasingly capable, understanding the relationship between human intent, trust, and machine behavior becomes essential. The Crazyflie® platform provides a safe, accessible, and highly adaptable environment for studying these interactions in real-world settings.
Researchers use Crazyflie to investigate how humans supervise, guide, communicate with, and learn from autonomous systems. Its compact size, open architecture, and support for real-time control make it suitable for experiments ranging from individual interactions to collaborative multi-agent scenarios involving both humans and robots.
Research Opportunities
With Crazyflie, researchers can implement and evaluate:
- Shared autonomy and mixed-initiative control.
- Human-in-the-loop decision making and adaptive autonomy.
- Trust, transparency, and explainable robot behavior.
- Teleoperation and remote collaboration.
- Multi-modal interaction through gestures, motion, vision, or mobile interfaces.
- Human-swarm interaction and collective system supervision.
The platform enables controlled experiments that combine physical interaction, behavioral analysis, and autonomous decision-making, helping researchers evaluate both technical performance and human experience.
Research in Action
The Crazyflie has been used in studies exploring shared control, teleoperation, collaborative robotics, and human-swarm interaction. Researchers have leveraged the platform to investigate how humans communicate intent, build trust in autonomous systems, and coordinate with individual robots or robot teams.
Its combination of safety, accessibility, and openness makes it particularly valuable for experiments involving close human proximity, iterative user testing, and rapid prototyping of new interaction concepts.
Demonstrating How To Train Your Drone
KTH Royal Institute of Technology
SwarmTouch: Guiding a Swarm of Micro-Quadrotors With Impedance Control Using a Wearable Tactile Interface
Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology
Hand-worn Haptic Interface for Drone Teleoperation
École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
Safe Operations of an Aerial Swarm via a Cobot Human Swarm Interface
University of Maryland
Wisp: Drones as Companions for Breathing
Chalmers University of Technology
CrazyJoystick: A Handheld Flyable Joystick for Providing On-Demand Haptic Feedback in Extended Reality
Viterbi School of Engineering, University of Southern California
Reference Setup
Every project has unique requirements, but many share common building blocks. The configurations below provide practical starting points for human–robot interaction research, supporting experiments in shared autonomy, teleoperation, human-in-the-loop control, and collaborative robotics.
The "Happy hacker bundle" has everything you need to get started with software, firmware and hardware development.
Shop Bundle
The "Happy hacker bundle" has everything you need to get started with software, firmware and hardware development.
Shop Bundle
With the STEM ranging bundle you get everything you need for scripting and learning how to operate a robot in 3 dimensions and react to objects around it.
Shop Bundle
With the STEM ranging bundle you get everything you need for scripting and learning how to operate a robot in 3 dimensions and react to objects around it.
Shop BundleRelated Resources
Whether you are investigating shared autonomy, human-swarm interaction, teleoperation, or trust in autonomous systems, the Crazyflie provides a practical platform for moving beyond simulation and into real-world experimentation.