INNOVATIVE MATERIALS
A swarm of 3D printing drones for construction and repair Swarms of drones could also be used in space, for example on a future Mars mission. Image: Yusuf Furkan KAYA, Aerial Robotics Laboratory, Imperial College London/Empa
An international research team led the Swiss Federal Laboratories of Materials Science and Technology Empa and Imperial College London has taken bees as a model to develop a swarm of cooperative, 3D-printing drones. Under human control, these flying robots work as a team to print 3D materials for building or repairing structures while flying.
During tests with a scaled up building session, the team virtually tracked the drone's patht to show how a large group could efficiency print large structures
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The system, called Aerial Additive Manufacturing (Aerial-AM), involves a fleet of drones working together from a single blueprint. It consists of so-called BuilDrones, which deposit materials during flight, and quality-controlling ScanDrones, which continually measure the BuilDrones’ output and inform their next manufacturing steps. The researchers say that in-flight 3D printing unlocks doors that will lead to on-site manufacturing and building in difficult-to-access or dangerous locations such as post-disaster relief construction and tall buildings or difficult to reach infrastructure. Aerial-AM uses both a 3D printing and path-planning framework so the drones can adapt to variations in geometry of the structure as a build progresses.
