Drones come in many shapes and sizes, but now they can also be
3d printed! To make these drones, the [Decode] group used a
selective laser sintering process which is pretty interesting in
itself. Once the printing process is done, these little planes
are built with only five structural and aerodynamic components.
Because of their simplicity, these drones can reportedly be
assembled and ready to fly with no tools in only ten minutes!
This design was done by the [Engineering and Physical Sciences
Research Council] at the University of Southampton in the UK by
a group of students. Besides this particular plane, they
concentrate their efforts on building autonomous drones under 20
Kilograms. Using a 3D sintering process with this design allowed
them to make this plane how they wanted, regardless of the ease
of machining the parts.