Additive Manufacturing of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles: Current Status, Recent Advances, and Future Perspectives

Abstract

Over the past two decades, we have witnessed increased interest in rapidly growing unmanned aerial vehicles technologies triggered by numerous commercial applications. However, production cost is still a challenge due to the complexity of the manufacturing process of unmanned aerial vehicles. Recently, additive manufacturing has been associated with the production of unmanned aerial vehicles due to its ability to produce complex structures with lower cost. In this investigation, the current state of the art of the development of additive manufacturing for unmanned aerial vehicles is reviewed in terms of its lightweight structure, design stages and functional components.