# 3D printed airless wheels help ground robots bring the wounded to safety #3dThursday

> **Key Architectural Takeaway:** Print&Live and iSCALE3D have developed Arkan, a set of 3D printed airless wheels for unmanned ground vehicles, published on designboom.

**Published:** 2026-10-15T13:30:50+00:00 
**Source:** Adafruit Electronics 
**Category:** open-hardware 
**Canonical URL:** https://fosswire.org/news/3d-printed-airless-wheels-help-ground-robots-bring-the-wound.html 

## Executive Summary
Print&Live and iSCALE3D have developed Arkan, a set of 3D printed airless wheels for unmanned ground vehicles, published on designboom. The wheels are built for casualty evacuation, ammunition transport, and logistics over rough ground. Each wheel uses a lattice structure made from load-bearing elastomers and polymer composites, with a rounded tread and enclosed sidewalls that keep mud, stones, and ice from packing in.

## Architectural & Systems Analysis
From a silicon and hardware engineering viewpoint:

- **Interface Neutrality:** Mitigates dependency on proprietary BSPs, empowering open toolchains to address hardware directly.
- **Supply Chain Verification:** Schematics and open pinouts allow deterministic audits against silicon errata.
- **Lifecycle Decoupling:** Decouples physical hardware utility from commercial vendor end-of-life obsolescence.

## Impact on the Open Ecosystem
Ensures that computational autonomy remains in the hands of the architect rather than closed silicon vendors.