A group of students at the university if Virginia had the idea to make a 3D printed Unmanned drone. The group has been working on this project for three years and plan on continuing the project. One of the main reasons the group decided to 3D print was the versatility of 3D printing. If the drone needs tweaked in any way you can change the file and then print. The drone had a 4 foot wingspan and could carry 6 pounds of electronics and equipment needed. When they tested the plane it could fly up to 45 minutes at a consistent 40 mph. The brains of the drone was a modified 4G LTE smartphone. The price of the drone, all the electronics and the ground station could cost somewhere between $800 and $2500 depend on if the ground station was necessary. This might seem like a lot of money but compared to the military drones used for this same job it might at well be disposable.
1) Do you believe 3D printing will be the new way military drones will be made?
I do believe 3D printing is the new way drones will be made and i hope it goes into affect soon.
2) How would you make there design more cost efficient.
I would start by using hobby grade parts so that they would be more readily available and cheaper instead of the modified smart phone.
Replies
Good job overall but all of your comments were done on the same day.
I don't think that 3D printing at its current state would be able to be used for military purposes, but perhaps in the future it will be usable. They could use materials that are sturdy but more abundant in the world to make it more cost efficient.
I dont think it will bet the new way of military drones being made because they arent going to all have a thousand dollar 3D printer in the camp or one big enough to print something with that big of a wing span. I think that they could use a cheaper material or cheaper motor and stuff to make it cheaper and lighter possibly.
I think it could be the new way to make military drones because it is efficient and easy to do. This kind of technology will most likely take over drone production. I think to make it more cost efficient they could use lower costing but sturdy materials to make the drones. This will make the drones cheaper, but still of good quality.
I believe that the 3D drones will be great for the military in the future. People out in the world has made the technology way better so I think this could all work out. I think that they would use cheaper produces at first to make sure this all goes over well.
That is possible since they made this drone. Well they probably designed it really well if it took three years. Like in engineering we have to design them like perfectly before when make them.
I think that 3D printed material isn't strong enough to be used in the military. If they made their design out of stronger material I think it could save our military a lot of money and help out with efficiency.
Yes, I think that the military drones of the future will be made with 3D printing if they just need to do something without using that much money. Use cheaper equipment/ material even if the quality of the drone goes down.
I think that 3D printing could be an evolved way of making these drones for the military in the future. I would try to reuse materials and electronics that don't serve the purpose they were first made of. I think this could be turned into a way to reuse materials.
I do believe that they will start making drones for the military because technology has become so advanced that making those is a big possibility. What they make the drones out of will or the materials used would maybe make the drones cheaper.
-
1
-
2
-
3
of 3 Next