This video shows two quadrocopters capable of not only balancing an inverted pendulum, but also of launching it off the vehicle and catching it again.

By Dario Brescianini, Markus Hehn, and Raffaello D'Andrea.
IDSC, ETH Zürich, Switzerland
For further information, please visit http://www.flyingmachinearena.org and
http://robohub.org/video-throwing-and-catching-an-inverted-pendulum-with-quadrocopters/.

This work is supported by and builds upon prior contributions by numerous collaborators in the Flying Machine Arena project.
http://www.flyingmachinearena.org/people/