For the Army, a customized, 3-D printed UAV is the best

Army planners say they envision a portable set of interchangeable components that could be used to build a wide assortment of UAVs. Ideally, a 3-D production system would churn out the frame, while a selection of motors, sensors, cameras and other apparatus could be selected from a standing inventory: “It’s an integrated system model that allows you to match the mission to the components,” said Eric Spero, a team lead within ARL’s vehicle technology directorate. “If I know what mission I need to accomplish, I want to be able to select the most appropriate electronics and combine that with a predefined structure.”

The Army is not alone in offering up a vision for a 3D-printed UAV. Hobbyists can download instructions for build-it-yourself copters and can even buy ready-made printable drone kits on Amazon. YouTube offers video tutorials. But the military-grade project looks to go beyond these commercials offerings, by making available the widest possible range of vehicles: “Our emphasis is on inherent flexibility,” said John Gerbes, a mechanical engineer at ARL. “It’s not just about providing a 3D-printed UAV but about providing a suite of tool to meet mission-specific needs.”

The use of 3D printing, or additive technology, makes it possible to create these ad hoc solutions to meet a broad range of requirements. Rather than carry parts and pieces for every possible configuration, soldiers will be able to manufacture on the fly those components that best suit the need: “If you can scale the arms longer or shorter, that links to the motor, which links to the battery, which links to the control systems. When you can do that, that is when you are really leveraging the power of additive technology,” Spero said.

“This is one step toward giving soldiers the right tools they need when they need them,” said Larry “L.J.” Holmes, Lead, Additive Manufacturing-Hybrid Operations Team (AM-HOT) at RDECOM, the Research, Development and Engineering Command. He described UAVs as the “low-hanging fruit,” a point of interest across Army and Marine Corps user groups. But he suggested that this capability might be just a starting point as the Army seeks other areas in which 3D printing could fulfill mission-specific needs on the fly. So, why carry around UAVs... when they can be printed on the spot?

ARL apply Additive Manufacturing to UAV Manufacturing

Additive Manufacturing has become prolific in the military, being used for various applications and across divisions. Now, two of the US military’s branches are teaming up for the development of 3D printed UAVs: “Several years ago when we were collaborating with our academic partner, Georgia Tech Research Institute, we had this project where we were focusing on design engineering of small unmanned aircraft systems,” said Eric Spero, a team lead within the Army Research Laboratory’s (ARL) Vehicle Technology Directorate.

The idea was to enable soldiers to custom design UAVs for specific missions using an app, and then to 3D print them within 24 hours. Spero and his team brought the project to life as part of the Army Expeditionary Warrior Experiment (AEWE), which gives soldiers access to new technologies. Researchers from the ARL then reached out to the Marines, knowing that the Marines had been working with 3D printed UAVs, and began developing a software catalog that would allow users to choose and 3D print an UAV for their specific mission needs: “We have interacted with Marines who have never touched an unmanned system before to Marines who are experts in unmanned aerial flight,” said ARL engineer Larry “LJ” R. Holmes Jr. “Across the board they all seemed to be very interested in the topic of being able to manufacture a tool that they can use that was mission specific and has a turn around.”

The Marines expected that turnaround to be days or weeks, but the ARL showed them that it could be anywhere from minutes to hours. The researchers said they plan to streamline their processes based on feedback from the Marines to optimize situational awareness: “Things like additive manufacturing with materials, artificial intelligence and machine learning, unmanned systems technologies, these will enable us to bring together the capabilities that will allow the future Soldiers and Marines the decisive edge that they need in the battlefield,” said Elias Rigas, a Division Chief in ARL’s Vehicle Technology Directorate.