Case Study: Wright State University achieves rapid development of lightweight, dragonfly-inspired Micro Air Vehicles with 3D Systems' ProJet 3000

Wright State University Builds ProJet MJP Printing into Research of Micro Aerial Vehicles

Wright State University’s Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, led by Dr. George Huang, was commissioned by the Air Force to develop a Micro Air Vehicle (MAV) capable of operating in urban and indoor environments where conventional UAVs—which logged 400,000 flight hours in 2008 and are widely used for border and surveillance missions—are not designed to go. The technical challenge was to produce an ultra-small, lightweight, highly maneuverable aircraft with extremely fine features and tiny gears.

The team used 3D Systems’ ProJet HD 3000 high-definition 3D printer to rapidly iterate biomimetic designs based on the dragonfly and manufacture the precise small parts needed. The solution delivered a remote-controlled, bird-sized MAV that is fast, maneuverable and lightweight; the program is now advancing toward a palm-sized, ~5-gram next generation and ultimately a true dragonfly-scale vehicle.

Wright State University

George Huang

Professor and Chair Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering