This TED talk by Rafaello D’Andrea presents some amazing examples of robotic control for quadcopters. The ‘model-based’ control theory he describes is based upon Newtonian mechanics, and is an example of how even now — a century after Newton’s world view was replaced by Einstein’s — we can still use Newton’s ideas to understand how things move in space and time in our local part of the world.
Here is an artistic performance called “Shadow” by elevenplay, with a human dancing with quadcopters
The following short film, a collaboration between D’Andrea and Cirque du Soleil, shows how precision flying can be done, with real artistry and grace. This is live performance, not CGI:
Here’s the ‘Making of’ video that shows the background work and testing that went into the previous film: