Case Study: Soleon achieves lightweight, high-performance pest-control drones with Materialise 3D printing

Reimagining Agricultural Pest Control with Soleon’s 3D-Printed Drones

Soleon, an Italian drone company, set out to build the SoleonAgro — a specialized drone to distribute Trichogramma wasps as a biological control for the Corn Borer — and needed extremely lightweight, end-use parts to maximize battery life while supporting a complex three-directional distribution system. Soleon turned to Materialise for 3D printing services to prototype and produce the customized drone body and components.

Materialise optimized Soleon’s files (including lattice structures, surface texturing and data prep) and used laser sintering with PA 12 and PA‑GF to deliver durable, lightweight parts suitable for serial production. Materialise’s work let Soleon realize its complex design (capable of working three times faster than competitors), deliver parts often within one week, and achieve a more cost-efficient, high‑performing SoleonAgro on the market.

Soleon

Michael Überbacher

Founder