In 2022, a Florida workshop was making furniture. 4 years later, 8 rail-mounted robots were printing boat hulls up to 130 feet long in just 9 days, turning digital designs into giant vessels without costly molds

In 2022, the Florida workshop behind Haddy's boat-building operation was making furniture. Four years later, its St. Petersburg facility has eight industrial robotic systems capable of 3D printing large composite structures, including boat hulls. The idea behind the process is to remove one of the most expensive parts of conventional boatbuilding: the mold, as per a report.

For decades, composite boat hulls have generally been made by creating a mold, laying composite material into it by hand, allowing it to cure and then sanding the finished structure. Changing the hull design can require new tooling.

Haddy's robotic systems instead deposit composite material directly from a digital design before machining the printed structure.


The company's St. Petersburg facility opened in April 2025 and covers roughly 30,000 square feet, as per a Autonocion report. It contains eight Flexbot systems from Dutch robotics company CEAD, installed with Siemens.

Seven Flexbot systems are mounted on rails

Seven of the eight Flexbot systems are mounted on rails, allowing their robotic arms to travel along the length of a structure while printing sideways against a vertical bed. That setup means the length of the rail becomes an important factor in determining how large a structure can be printed.

CEAD co-founder Maarten Logtenberg told 3D Printing Industry that the approach could produce boats of up to 40 meters, or about 130 feet, as per the Autonocion report.

The Flexbot systems also combine additive and subtractive manufacturing. They can deposit material and carry out CNC finishing within the same production system, using Siemens Sinumerik controls.

Haddy describes the St. Petersburg facility as the world's largest 3D printing facility based on total throughput and number of machines. That is a company claim rather than an independently audited ranking.

The 40-foot Harbinger shows what the process can produce

Haddy's TF-179 Drone Boat has few publicly available specifications, but its earlier work on the Harbinger provides a more detailed example.

HavocAI's Harbinger is a 40-foot semi-submersible autonomous vessel designed for contested logistics and resupply.

Haddy printed the hull using carbon-fiber-reinforced polymer. HavocAI said the hull arrived nine days after printing began, integration took less than a week and the complete boat was on the water within 30 days.

The timeline has been described differently by the companies involved. CompositesWorld framed the project as taking nine days from design to sea trial, while Haddy separately claimed that a 12-meter low-profile hull went from design to shipment in 10 days.

The Harbinger demonstration also had a limitation. According to HavocAI, it was built at roughly half to two-thirds of the size of the final design and was intended to test autonomous behavior rather than serve as a deployed vessel.

The TF-179 remains largely undisclosed

On August 8, Haddy announced the TF-179 Drone Boat, an uncrewed vessel produced using robotic arms that deposit composite material one bead at a time, as per the Autonocion report.

The company did not disclose the vessel's customer, mission, length, displacement, propulsion system or material specifications. That leaves too little information to assess the TF-179's performance. The announcement does, however, show the type of manufacturing system Haddy is developing: large composite structures can be produced through robotic printing and machining rather than conventional molds.

Digital manufacturing makes design changes simpler

The difference becomes important when an uncrewed vessel's design needs to change. With conventional manufacturing, altering a hull can mean creating new tooling. A digital process allows the geometry to be changed in the design file before another structure is printed.

The Black Sea has also highlighted the interest in relatively inexpensive autonomous boats. Ukrainian drone boats have damaged or destroyed Russian warships, showing how lower-cost vessels can be used against much more expensive targets, according to the Autonocion report.

Haddy is expanding into Georgia

The manufacturing model is also moving beyond St. Petersburg. In April, Red Cat Holdings partnered with Haddy to expand the Blue Ops maritime division at its Valdosta, Georgia, plant.

Under the agreement, Haddy is installing robotic production systems inside the Blue Ops facility, with the aim of roughly doubling output. Blue Ops can also order additional hulls from Haddy's own facilities when it needs more capacity.

The products include five-meter and seven-meter uncrewed surface vessels derived from Ukrainian designs and offered in configurations for combat and surveillance.

Red Cat also signed a partnership with Ukraine's Spetstechnoexport in March. Barry Hinckley of Blue Ops said the arrangement would allow the company to iterate at the speed of modern conflict, as per the Autonocion report. He also cited data and intellectual property protection as reasons for choosing Haddy.

Georgia's governor said the Valdosta operation would add hundreds of jobs in Lowndes County.

Haddy's broader claims still need verification

The manufacturing equipment described in the provided information is established, but several broader claims come from Haddy itself.

The company has claimed that its approach can reduce costs by 50% to 65% compared with conventional boatbuilding, as per the Autonocion report. It also calls its St. Petersburg operation the world's largest 3D printing facility based on total throughput and number of machines.