The Razor UAV Only Costs $800 to Print

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When budget are stressed and cannot support the purchase of more highly priced UAVs some are  so inexpensive and quick to create that it’s practically disposable.

Dubbed the Razor by its creators at the University of Virginia, this 1.8 pound, 4-foot-wide flying wing is powered by a single prop and controlled with nothing more than an Android tablet—which communicates with an onboard 4G Nexus 5 “brain”—from up to a mile. It can also plot its own autonomous course using GPS.

According to Gizmodo, the current iteration is capable of hoisting another 1.5 pounds worth of surveillance gear for up to 45 minutes and air speeds reaching 40 mph. Earlier prototypes could notch 120 mph but those sorts of speeds drained its power reserves too quickly—even with the drone’s ability to hot-swap fresh power packs.

Unmanned systems conference 2014 – Israel

The DoD-funded project has been in development for three years and is currently testing its third prototype: a 9-piece flyer constructed from interlocking ABS plastic components. Producing all nine pieces takes 31 hours on a commercial 3D printer at a total cost of $800—throw in the tablet and other support gear and you’re up to $2500, though that’s still way cheaper than what you could build them for conventionally.

They’re so inexpensive, in fact, that the idea is to simply print each one out as the situation dictates. Minor design tweaks can modify the vehicle’s handling, speed, and size and a new unit created in just over a day. And if you crash one into a tree or Somali warlords shoot it down, who cares? You’ll have a new one sooner than Amazon could Prime ship it to you.