UAV Archives - Perfect 3D Printing Filament

Youbionic: My Drone has the Hands and I Send it to do the Shopping

“My Drone has the Hands and I send it to do the shopping” was the title of the email that Youbionic‘s Federico Ciccarese sent me. Sometimes you can’t beat a subject line. I’ve been a huge fan of Youbionic, the bionic 3D printed robot project, for years now. Just between you and me, I’ll publish these guy’s shopping list if they send it to me. Their open source robot project has led to a lot of great robots and innovative things being developed by people the world over. There is however, a mad hatter portion to the Youbionic team’s innovations that continues to surprise. Not content to stay within their cuddly open source corner, they regularly produce nightmare fuel for us. These are the people who put arms on the already terrifying Spot the robot hellhound, proposed a nice little upgrade for you and me with a potential third or fourth arm, and also a double hand device to give us each more hands.

Technically would you now have three hands, four?

So whenever I get an email from Youbionic one hand goes to open ‘Add New Post’ while the other shakes a bit in trepidation as I open the email. This one did not disappoint because the 3D printing team working hardest on creating a dystopian future through 3D printing has now put hands on a drone. Open up your speakers and help bring in the end of humanity people, because here it is:

The Drone for Handy by Youbionic is completely literally the thing we will see hovering overhead as we cower in the caves as civilization collapses around us.

“WE ARE HERE TO GUIDE THE HUMAN RACE IN THE MOST DIFFICULT PATH THERE IS. MENTAL OBSTACLES ARE WHAT WE WANT TO OVERCOME TO CREATE A NEW WORLD.”

Thus the Youbionic team wants to usher in our doom. Undeterred? You can download the parts and make your own Drone for Handy on the Youbionic site. Sign up and you’ll get Google Drive access to the STLs for free. Not sure why all of the shareables sites are sleeping and not trying to get Youbionic on their platform. Unless of course they’d prefer to limit their camping to video games and don’t want Hitchcock’s the Birds with Drones to become humanity’s greatest new problem.

Drone For Handy
by ciccarese
on Sketchfab

Rarely have seriously bad ideas been brought to us in so beguiling a manner as they have in the hands of Youbionic. Part of me really wants these guys to succeed and get millions of adherents to build their robots. Part of me thinks of all the wonderful prosthetics and aids for humans that such a development could create. But, there’s this spidey sense thing that I get from these guys that makes me very worried.

The above clip is literally what is playing in my head right now. Only instead of comparatively harmless crows, it is a flock of Youbionic Drone for Handys that is bearing down on us. Only they don’t make bird sounds like crows but they sound kind of like scissors snipping, like from Coraline. Oh great, now I won’t be able to sleep for weeks. Download the STLs here, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.

[Images: Youbionic]

Bridgeport Research Duo Create and Analyze 3D Printed Frame for Quadrotor Drone

Quadrotor frame assembly in exploded view.

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), also known as drones, are agile and resilient enough to be piloted, and monitored, from remote distances. With four flying dimensions and six degrees of freedom for pitch, roll, space, and yaw, drones can be used for a wide variety of applications, such as farming, documenting 3D information about historic archaeological sites, photography, military and defense, acting as first responders during natural disasters and rescue operations, and 3D printing.

Multirotor drones have multiple fixed wings and have a high level of maneuverability, and are classified further based on factors like position, orientation, and number of rotors. A pair of researchers from the University of Bridgeport recently published a paper, titled “Design and Analysis of 3D Printed Quadrotor Frame,” detailing their work using 3D printing to create the frame for a quadrotor drone.

3D printed drone assembly bottom view

The abstract reads, “This research emphasizes more on 3D printing a quadrotor with ‘X’ shaped frame. We built a CAD model of drone frame using SOLIDWORKS, following that; we performed three types of finite analysis 1. Static structural, 2. Impact analysis, and 3. Modal analysis. The drone frame is simulated and analysed under various boundary conditions such as lift, drag, and thrust till the optimized results of minimum displacement, a factor of safety is achieved. We printed the frame of drone on PRUSA I3 Mk3 3D printer by using ABS-PC and carbon fiberglass materials as the filament.”

The researchers designed a CAD model of their X-framed drone in SOLIDWORKS using multiple constraints, including:

length of the propeller, which determines the length of an arm
motor rotor diameter and electronic speed controller width, which contribute to determining a drone’s arm width

Highlighted surface area is the fuselage

They designed the arms of the drone to translate force away from the fuselage, which helps electronic components maintain minimal damage if the drone has an accident or fails. The fuselage of a drone is “the eye” of its electronic components, like the receiver, power distribution board, and flight controller, and the duo designed a housing to protect the fuselage’s components in the event of a crash.

The dimensions of their drone frame, which was 3D printed on a PRUSA I3 Mk3 3D printer out of carbon fiberglass and ABS-PC, are 175.14 x 171.42 x 48.75 x 226 mm.

The researchers explained, “To perform FE analysis, the forces acting on a frame are determined, which are 1.The Weight of the frame and all the electronic components on it normal to the ground, 2. Lift force direction is a resultant between thrust and vertical take-off, towards the direction of motion, 3. Thrust generated by the propeller and motor towards the direction of motion and 4. Drag force acting in opposite direction of motion.”

Strain deformation

The researchers manually calculated and applied the forces acting on the 3D printed frame during simulation, which resulted in three plots: Von Mises stress, displacement, and strain deformation. They were able to run a sequences of cycles in SOLIDWORKS where the drone crash-landed, and gained simulation results by compiling all of the collected data. Additionally, they also completed a static structural analysis – a phenomenon called plasticity – by considering a non-linear analysis based on the materials used to make the frame and the rate of deformation, and completed a modal analysis of the 3D printed frame in order to measure the dynamic excitation caused by vibrating motors.

“A 3D printed quadrotor frame with safety factor 2.5 is attained and various finite element analysis performed on the frame are distinctly mentioned and plotted in the figures. Further, we can 3D print a 3- axis gimbal and attach it to our quadcopter for aerial photography. Also, we can upgrade them by attaching few thermal imaging sensors and gas sensors to measure radiation and air pollution at certain heights,” the researchers concluded. “This shows the main advantage of the 3D printed quadcopters and makes them stand distinct to the market-ready drones. We can customize them to make them work in any environment just by changing the printing filaments.”

3D printed drone assembly isometric view.

Co-authors of the paper are Sai Mallikarjun Parandha and Zheng Li.

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Titomic Shares News About 3D Printing Executives and $1.8 Million MoU to Make 3D Printed Soldier Systems

Australian metal 3D printing company Titomic, known for its innovative Titomic Kinetic Fusion (TKF) process, has plenty of big news to share this week. First, CEO Gilbert Michaca, who was responsible for implementing a series of governance and operational structures to support Titomic’s next growth phase, has resigned from the company.

“I have enjoyed my time with Titomic and the additive manufacturing sector, but I am moving to pursue other commercial opportunities more aligned with my interests,” said Michaca. “I look forward to witnessing Titomic’s growth and prosperity in the future.”

Jeffrey Lang

In addition to Michaca’s resignation, Titomic announced that its founder and former Interim CEO Jeffrey Lang, who led the company through its IPO, and the establishment of its cold spray facility in Melbourne, has now been appointed as the Managing Director, effective immediately.

“Following our whirlwind IPO and unprecedented growth phase, the Titomic team has delivered a lot in a very short period of time,” said Titomic Chairman Philip Vafiadis. “With Jeff stepping into his new role as the Company’s Managing Director we are excited that his significant knowledge and networks across industry sectors, his deep understanding of the technology, his experience, his passion and his understanding of investor needs bodes well for future growth and shareholder value.”

Moving on from news about its executives, Titomic has just signed a $1.8 million, year-long MoU with fellow Australian company TAUV Proprietary Limited (TAUV), which integrates electronic technologies into solider protection for the purposes of improving safety and performance. Together, the two will begin an exclusive defense program for Titomic to manufacture soldier systems, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), and soldier sensors for TAUV.

Recently, TAUV completed a successful launch of the first ruggedized titanium tactical UAV at Land Forces 2018, which was manufactured by Titomic and caused great excitement in both the additive manufacturing and defense industries. This launch was Phase 1 of the partnership between the two companies, and the MoU was signed after the prototype drone launch. TAUV and Titomic agreed to a two-phase extension to their existing relationship, so that TAUV can license the TKF technology, patented in both the US and Australia, in order to make next-generation soldier systems.

According to Research and Markets, “The soldier systems market is projected to grow from USD$9.78 billion in 2018 to USD$14 billion by 2023, at a CAGR of 7.65%.”

TAUV Tactical Unmanned Aerial Vehicle at Land Forces, 2018.

TAUV worked hard to secure exclusivity with Titomic for the manufacture of its UAV and other soldier system products, like body armor and helmets. Under Phase II of the partnership, Titomic will deliver a feasibility report, which outlines mechanical properties, performance parameters, and product cost advantages of its technology, to TAUV. TAUV must outline the Specific Products on or before November 30, at a total Phase cost of $300,000, in order to execute Phase II and maintain exclusivity.

“This MoU with TAUV provides the first significant revenue for Titomic,” said Lang. “The granting of an exclusive license to TAUV for the production of solider systems further validates Titomic’s licensed CSIRO patents as a viable additive manufacturing process that enables Australian companies to manufacture cutting-edge products with competitive advantages for the global market.”

For Phase III, Titomic will design and engineer a manufacturing process for TAUV’s next-generation soldier system for up to five products, at a cost of $300,000 each, to add up to a total revenue of up to $1.5 million. Once the production and evaluation trials in this phase have been completed, the two companies will finalize product licenses so that TAUV can use the automated TKF production line systems to fabricate soldier system products…with continuing royalty payments going to Titomic for the use of its technology.

TKF uses a process similar to cold spray to build up titanium parts layer by layer, rather than simply coating a surface, and has no limits in terms of shape and size. The technology has unique additive manufacturing capabilities to offer to defense organizations for the production of lightweight, next-generation, high-performance products.

“The solider system products produced by Titomic’s TKF process will enhance the offering to defence and law enforcement agencies through improved strength, functionality and capability,” said TAUV Director Nathan Kalisch. “A new ruggedised UAV will be capable of deployment in dangerous, live combat situations to perform some of the direct combat roles we want to remove military personnel from, heightening their security.”

L-R: Titomic CTO Jeff Lang, TAUV Founder Nathan Kalisch, Titomic CEO Gilbert Michaca

This continuing partnership came about as the result from an increasing demand around the world for innovative new defense products. According to Variant Market Research, the market for combat helmets is estimated to grow to $3 billion by the year 2024, while Grand View Research states estimates that by the same year, the body armor market will be valued at $4 billion.

In the future, TAUV will be working closely with Force Ordnance to provide product innovation and advanced manufacturing solutions to some of the largest defense product manufacturers in the world.

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[Images: Titomic]

Examining the Effectiveness of 3D Printing for Drone Construction (MALE UAVs)

Drones are becoming more and more a part of modern life, being used for everything from military applications to delivering pizza, not to mention the growing number of hobbyists using them personally. Drones have come of age, so to speak, alongside 3D printing, and therefore 3D printing is commonly used to construct drones, also known as unmanned aerial vehicles or UAVs. In a paper entitled “Implementation of FDM technology in MALE UAVs,” a group of researchers discuss the advantages of using 3D printing for drone manufacture.

MALE stands for Medium Altitude Long Endurance. According to the researchers, there are numerous advantages of using 3D printing over other methods of fabrication. Using PLA makes UAVs more eco-friendly, for one thing, and also improves their strength to weight ratio. 3D printing allows designers to densify certain areas, such as the landing gear or nose tip, that will experience greater impact, while compensating by reducing weight elsewhere. The technology also makes it easier to create an aerodynamic design, and saves time, money and effort compared to other manufacturing methods.

In the study, the researchers developed a 3D printed drone fuselage, which is described as the “backbone” of the drone. It serves as a housing for payload as well as many other components, so there are several weight, aerodynamic and structural constraints that have to be considered in its design. The length of the fuselage also affects the stability of the drone, and it is important to streamline the body so that air can flow around it in such a way as to keep the drag effects low.

Other techniques are sometimes used for manufacturing the body of the drone, such as subtractive manufacturing of Styrofoam or Balsa wood, and while they have their own advantages they also have several disadvantages: a Styrofoam sheet is non-aerodynamic, while constructing a drone out of Balsa wood is “cumbersome as well as time-consuming.” In contrast, 3D printing a fuselage is easy and allows for a great deal of design freedom.

The researchers 3D printed several iterations of the drone before arriving at the final version, which was “aerodynamically stable as well as mechanically robust.” Stress analysis was performed using FEA simulations through an ANSYS tool. They analyzed both nose impact and belly impact.

In the nose impact analysis, the maximum force applied was 25 N and the maximum deformation was 1.09 mm.

Nose impact analysis

“The analysis is oriented in such a manner that the wing berth is taken as fixed support thereas, the motor mount is assumed to have a ramped up force impact on it,” the researchers state. “The feature shows that the maximum deformation would occur at the joint of two different parts which were manufactured separately and then joined together using cyanoacrylate.”

For the belly impact analysis, the maximum force applied was 25 N and the maximum deformation was 1.1435 mm.

Belly impact analysis

“As the fuselage is deemed to land on its belly during the landing approach,” the researchers continue. “Moreover, in any case the first impact would be on the bottom surface only. Considering the purview of the given problem statement, the analysis is shown above where the impacts on grilled bottom and wall surfaces have been shown.”

The researchers conclude that FDM 3D printing technology is an effective way of constructing drones, with excellent build precision and high strength to weight ratio. It allows varied material composition on different parts of the drone, and is overall simple, cost-effective and time-saving.

Authors of the paper include Ankur Dwivedi, Darshit Desai and Deepesh Agarwal.

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Titomic partners with TAUV to develop 3D printed soldier-enabled drones

Titomic, an Australian industrial additive manufacturing company, has announced a defense agreement with TAUV, a manufacturer of lightweight military-grade armor, to produce “ruggedised soldier-enabled” Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) using its Titomic Kinetic Fusion technology. Following this agreement, a prototype 3D printed ruggedised soldier-enabled UAV created with Titomic’s technology has been shortlisted for the Land Forces […]