Derby, an adorable husky mix was born with underdeveloped forearms (or forepaws as I like to call them) and a hyper developed sense of adventure. Undeterred by his condition, Derby’s foster parents experimented with a few mobility mechanisms and elbow pads for him before turning to 3D Printed prosthesis. Derby’s custom paws just allowed him to run for the first time, an activity he and his adopted parents have every day since.
If this doesn’t warm your heart and show you the healing power of 3D printing… perhaps this story about Shapeways’ Designer Melissa Ng, of Lumecluster, and the custom prosthesis she made earlier this year will:
Know a pooch or person in need of prosthesis? Connect them to our community in the forums or reach out to me personally, Savannah@Shapeways.com. I’d love to help the dreams come true of our 2, 3 and 4 legged friends.
This is probably the best thing ever. Well done on being awesome people as well as designers!
There is something about that design that just does not seem right to me . . . . all of the weight is shifted forward, which puts more stress on the very place you do not want it, the weak place. Abandoning the wheel design was a mistake too, because it then requires that the design is as mentioned above. With the wheel design, you can have reinforcement from left to right and a high placed carriage.
According to 3D Systems, they made the first version of the protheses low to allow the dog to adapt to them. They’re currently on the fourth iteration! Hopefully they’ll make another video about it.
I was deeply impressed. I will continue my work for people with disability by using 3D printing.