Mobile additive manufacturing is still a relatively young research field. It describes the combination of additive manufacturing units with mobile systems, such as robots or drones. In particular, drone-based manufacturing imposes extremely high demands on the precise localization of the manufacturing unit in order to ensure the required production accuracy.

Mobile additive manufacturing can be classified according to the degree of mobility as follows:

• Type 1 refers to the simple transportation of the manufacturing unit to a variable production site.

• Type 2 additionally includes the active modification of the production site by the unit.

• Type 3 describes fully mobile manufacturing, for example from the air or while in motion.

• Type 4 adds collaborative manufacturing, i.e., the simultaneous or sequential processing of a component by multiple manufacturing units.

Each type entails increasing complexity, particularly in the areas of localization, stabilization, and precision.

The current objective is the integration of additive manufacturing technologies into an unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) and/or an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) capable of producing small components and communicating with other manufacturing units.