How did Skydio become an industry leader in autonomous drone flight with the help of Formlabs?

Posted by FIT THAI on February 10, 2026

Skydio's Unmanned Aerial Vehicle product line is trusted by experts across various industries, from energy utilities to disaster response and recovery, as well as many other industries. Photos courtesy of Skydio

As manufacturers worldwide look for ways to adapt and cope with the proliferation of Artificial Intelligence, one drone company has set the standard for AI-driven systems. That company is Skydio which is a leading drone manufacturer in the United States and a global leader in automation. The Unmanned Aerial Systems (UASs) product line, including their new Dock product, has opened new opportunities for various industries such as energy utilities, transportation systems, public safety, environmental research, and many more.

The engineering and design teams at Skydio use the Formlabs Form 3+ in the product development phase to create prototypes that closely resemble the final design for mass production. The Form 3+ printer has been used from functional testing to tooling and fixtures, utilizing a wide range of materials that Formlabs offers. Skydio has two types of drones: Skydio 2+ and Skydio X2 which is a heavy-duty drone for enterprise and defense applications. Additionally, they have launched Skydio Dock which is an innovative new product that enables the use of drones in remote areas while sending data back without human interaction or monitoring.

Senior Hardware Development Expert Eric Weinhoffer discussed with us about the workflow process from design to production of the team and explained how 3D printing technology allows the hardware team to keep pace with Skydio's advanced software development.

What makes Skydio different from others

In the early days of the drone industry, Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UASs), sometimes referred to as Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), required a remote pilot to control the flight to ensure a stable and reliable connection. The pilot had to be physically close to the drone, which limited the operational range and effectiveness of the drone. However, in recent years, drone manufacturers have begun to integrate levels of automation into their systems, resulting in new use cases and enabling drones to collect more data.

Skydio is leading the competition in the industry by focusing on software development first, having launched a fully automated flight system. “Historically, controlling these drones required a very high level of skill. Traditional drones often crash frequently or produce very poor quality video. But our drones will not crash; they not only can perfectly compose images but also intelligently navigate and automatically track objects or people. We are the global leader in automation.”

— Said by Eric Weinhoffer.

This level of automation has truly opened up a world of new opportunities for drones. Public safety agencies can use drones to survey accident scenes or crime scenes to digitally recreate what happened without needing personnel to monitor the drones or incurring costs for hiring external services.

Public utilities, civil engineering companies, and government agencies rely on Skydio drones to conduct inspections of their large areas, and they can also use drones in conjunction with permanently installed docks, enabling nearly continuous monitoring without additional resources.

Since these applications often occur in hard-to-reach areas, Skydio drones need to be durable and well-designed. SLA 3D printing allows them to create prototypes that closely resemble the final injection-molded parts when evaluating various requirements for their prototypes.

Constantly having to compromise between weight, speed, and flight range.

Weinhoffer and the hardware development team rely on the Form 3+ printer and various types of resin from Formlabs to keep pace with the rapid development process of the Skydio software team. Photo courtesy of Skydio.

Designing a drone is a process of negotiation and decision-making among various trade-offs. Drones that are specially reinforced for durability cannot fly as long as lighter drones, while very lightweight drones cannot support the processing power needed for autonomous operation. However, adding all the processing systems necessary for autonomous flight will also increase weight, affecting flight time as a result. This is a process of continuously making small design adjustments, step-by-step tuning, and intensive testing.

“We have to process a lot on the drone to support autonomous flight. Every decision is a performance trade-off that impacts every piece of hardware and electronics.”

To be able to slightly modify the geometry of parts and test how those changes affect flight time or impact resistance, the hardware team relies on overnight printing to support and inform the development process.

“With 3D printing, the speed allows us to consider exchanges in various forms. We can compare two slightly different geometric shapes and test those exchanges.”

— Eric Weinhoffer
Senior Hardware Development Expert

Skydio's ability to quickly make decisions and conduct various tests allows them to meet deadlines and secure important contracts. For the Major Program of Record of the U.S. federal government, many drone companies participated in the open bidding process, where participants had to operate under strict and highly competitive timelines to showcase products that meet government requirements. Skydio was able to win the bid because they could develop hardware at high speed, partly due to the use of Formlabs printers.

“We cannot control the dates, which makes it extremely important for us to develop hardware and software simultaneously. The lead time for producing actual parts is the biggest constraint for us. The Form 3+ starts working immediately without stopping, and after that, everything is very easy. The hardware we need to fix or modify is right there.”

— Said by Eric Weinhoffer.

The hardware development team at Skydio has stacked their SLA printers for easy access, allowing the printers to operate continuously, enabling the team to prototype and test almost all the time. Photo courtesy of Skydio.

Completing the design and testing functionality.

In external testing environments, such as federal agency bids, having parts printed with 3D technology that serve as temporary parts and can simulate the strength and durability, as well as the strength and rigidity of parts produced by injection molding or machining, is extremely important. Although Skydio uses parts produced with Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) technology for quick shape or fit testing, they rely on Formlabs machines for testing the functionality of prototypes in the final stages of design.

“SLA is very beneficial because the key is speed and the ability to produce parts that are as close to actual production parts as possible, and to do so as quickly as possible. Having parts with material properties similar to those used in actual production is fantastic,” Weinhoffer said.

Skydio uses Rigid 4000 Resin because it has a balance of heat resistance, impact resistance, and strength. At the same time, it uses Tough 2000 Resin because it has properties similar to plastics produced by injection molding. The clarity of the surface of parts made from Clear Resin is crucial during the inspection process to clearly see the wiring inside the drone, which has a large number of electronic systems. For rapid prototyping or testing the functionality of new gasket and seal designs, the team opts for Elastic Resin or Durable Resin.

“The parts produced by Formlabs have the look and feel of actual rigid molded parts. The ability to make parts closely resemble what will be produced later is incredibly powerful when considering scaling in various aspects such as fit and surface quality. These parts help our designers better understand how something might work or feel, including the perception of weight when held, for use in drop testing or flight testing of prototypes. These parts give us confidence to use them in flight testing.”

— Eric Weinhoffer
Senior Hardware Development Expert

Fixture for operational testing

Strength is important not only for the parts mounted on the drone but also for the fixtures used in testing. The team will design fixtures for testing drone parts using the Form 3+ printer to take advantage of the mechanical strength of Rigid 4000 Resin or the impact resistance of Tough 2000 Resin.

During the Radio Frequency (RF) testing phase of the drone development process, the team places drone parts in an antenna measurement chamber, an environment that blocks all external radio waves. They needed a strong fixture to hold the parts on a robotic turntable but could not use metal as it would interfere with the experiment. Weinhoffer designed the fixture and printed it with Rigid 4000 Resin to be installed in the test chamber and help secure the antenna in the correct position for testing.

Inside the RF (Radio Frequency) test chamber, fixtures printed with 3D technology serve to hold actual parts in the correct position. Metal fixtures are both costly and interfere with RF testing, so custom 3D printed parts are crucial, such as this fixture printed with Rigid 4000 Resin. Photo courtesy of Skydio.

In another case, the team needed to find a way to create a prototype rubber part for vibration reduction within the company itself, but requesting soft rubber parts in different forms from suppliers was both costly and time-consuming. The hardware development team took inspiration from Formlabs' white paper by printing several prototype molds to test the effectiveness of various design options for vibration reduction.

“The greatest advantage is clearly the variety of materials and properties of Formlabs' resin materials available.”

— Eric Weinhoffer
Senior Hardware Development Expert

Ease of use enhances practical application.

Drones help public safety agencies gather information in disaster areas or crime scenes while allowing personnel to avoid dangerous situations.

Energy production equipment is often located in hard-to-reach areas, but Skydio's drones and Dock products can help companies inspect their critical infrastructure without the need for an operator to be nearby. Photos courtesy of Skydio

One reason Skydio has garnered attention from a wide range of industries and customers is its accessibility and ease of use. The automated flight system is advanced enough to alleviate concerns or the need for complex planning before deployment. Law enforcement agencies can focus on gathering data at crime scenes without worrying about flight control, while large construction companies can deploy drones and docks for long-term projects without concerns about inspection gaps.

Weinhoffer applies the same concept to 3D printing as well. If a technology is not easily accessible, it cannot truly prove its value in the lab. “Formlabs printers are very easy to use, and many members of our engineering team can access and operate them. Adding the Form 3+ and giving the engineering team an extra one or two days to work faster has made a significant impact on us,” Weinhoffer said.

As Skydio expands its product line and develops more custom solutions, 3D printing is no longer just a tool but has become a crucial factor that enables hardware teams to keep up with the incredibly fast pace of software development.

If you want to learn more about how the Form 3+ 3D printer helps manufacturers in the aerospace and defense industries improve workflows, win significant contracts, and reduce production and development costs, you can find more information on the industry page or contact an expert for further advice.