  3D printing using robots has garnered significant interest in manufacturing
and construction in recent years. A robot's versatility paired with the design
freedom of 3D printing offers promising opportunities for how parts and
structures are built in the future. However, 3D printed objects are still
limited in size and location due to a lack of vertical mobility of ground
robots. These limitations severely restrict the potential of the 3D printing
process. To overcome these limitations, we develop a hexacopter testbed that
can print via fused deposition modeling during flight. We discuss the design of
this testbed and develop a simple control strategy for initial print tests. By
successfully performing these initial print tests, we demonstrate the
feasibility of this approach and lay the groundwork for printing 3D parts and
structures with drones.
