3D printed autonomous platform Hydra designed and manufactured in Mussafah, Abudhabi

The first 3D printed autonomous platform named Hydra was launched by Abu Dhabi’s Al Seer Marine and it is produced locally.

The autonomous surface vessel (USV), designed and manufactured at its facility in the industrial area of Mussafah, is around 4 metres long and 1.5 metres wide. It is a scalable modular multi-functional USV, which can be deployed for security, surveillance and reconnaissance.

The autonomous vessel is designed for protection of assets like offshore installations, shore-side ships, desalination plants, private islands, and super yachts.

Hydra, which uses a waterjet propulsion system, can carry different types of non-lethal payloads along with camera, radar, and sonar systems.

The hull and deck were printed on ‘Mega II’, the world’s largest robotic arm-based 3D printer, which started operation in January this year at Al Seer Marine facilities in Abu Dhabi.

The 36m long machinery Mega II is equipped with two industrial hybrid robots for additive manufacturing and post-processing.

According to an official from Al Seer Marine Innovation and Capability Developments Business Unit, a new era of 3D printing started and will impact industries like marine, security and defence, art and culture, railways and automotive as well as space agencies and aviation industry to name a few only.

Recently, Hydra was on display during the seventh edition of Naval Defence and Maritime Security Exhibition (Navdex) held in Abu Dhabi.