Intelligent Sky Guardians (InSkyGuard): An Aerial Robotic Swarm for Autonomous Detection and Entrapment of Rogue Multirotors

Multirotor aerial robots, commonly known as drones, have enabled numerous applications in civil and urban environments, yet they also pose risks to people, infrastructure, and ecosystems when misused or uncontrolled. To address these challenges, this work introduces Intelligent Sky Guardians (InSkyGuard), an aerial robotic swarm for autonomous detection and entrapment of rogue drones. The system integrates computer vision, swarm coordination, and a net‐based mechanical capture mechanism to overcome the limitations of conventional approaches such as robotic arms or single‐drone nets. A team of four miniature drones, operating under a leader–follower strategy, achieves synchronized mobility, cooperative tracking, and safe target enclosure. Closed‐environment experiments, supported by comparative analyses with simulations, validate the robustness, adaptability, and efficiency of the system, while integrated failsafe mechanisms ensure reliability and safety. By leveraging swarm intelligence, InSkyGuard enhances payload capacity, stability, and adaptability, offering a scalable strategy for capturing unauthorized drones. This research advances aerial robotics by demonstrating that swarm intelligence, combined with a passive compliant capture mechanism, can enable the autonomous, nonlethal, and safe capture of aerial objects, paving the way for practical deployment in real‐world environments.