RoVerFly: Robust and Versatile Implicit Hybrid Control of Quadrotor-Payload Systems

Abstract-- Designing robust controllers for precise trajectory tracking with quadrotors is challenging due to nonlinear dynamics and underactuation, and becomes harder with flexible cable-suspended payloads that add degrees of freedom and hybrid dynamics. Classical model-based methods offer stability guarantees but require extensive tuning and often fail to adapt when the configuration changes--when a payload is added or removed, or when its mass or cable length varies. Trained with task and domain randomization, the controller is resilient to disturbances and varying dynamics. It achieves strong zero-shot generalization across payload settings--including no payload as well as varying mass and cable length--without re-tuning, while retaining the interpretability and structure of a feedback tracking controller . Quadrotors are widely used for aerial navigation, and numerous planning and control strategies have been developed for agile, precise maneuvering [1], [2].