DediBot, a 3D printer manufacturer out of Hangzhou, China created the Fly Elephant, a multi-rotor drone, that features an extruder that can be used for rapid prototyping of large structures.
If you look under the six-rotor cage of the Open-ended Additive Manufacturing (OAM) drone, there hangs a 3D printing nozzle that's fed plastic, concrete mix, or other material from a tube connected to the top of the OAM Fly Elephant. The drone's printing path will be precisely plotted by software, for a promised printing accuracy of 0.1 mm.
This 3D printing drone flew around the company's booth at TCT Asia, showcasing its potential applications in the construction industry, with the free-flying design meaning that the size and shape of printed structures are not restricted by the dimensions of a static 3D printer's enclosure. However, printed examples on display look similar to the kind of layer-by-layer 3D-printed builds in Dubai and Spain.
Therefore, construction projects could be undertaken by a cluster of 3D printing drones working together, possibly with drones each extruding different materials for a kind of multiple print head approach to structure builds. Of course, short battery life may well limit the potential usefulness of such technologies so DediBot is looking to wireless power solutions to give the drones potentially unlimited air time on the construction site.
Even though The Fly Elephant is still very much at the concept stage, with many questions yet to be answered such as would need to be abandoned during high winds, and would the process be limited to producing rough and ready structure prototypes or might we see drones printing usable buildings? At least it is doing something now. Constructing our fantasies for the future.
