Slashdot Mirror
How a 3D Printer Let a Dog Run For the First Time
Nerval's Lobster writes Ever since 3-D printing began to enter the mainstream, people have discussed the technology's potential for building prosthetic arms and legs for human beings. But what about doing the same for dogs? In one of those videos that ends up circulated endlessly on the Internet, a dog named Derby, born with a congenital deformity that deprived him of front paws, is outfitted with a pair of 3-D-printed prosthetics. With those "legs" in place, the dog can run for the first time, at a pretty good clip. Both the prosthetics and the video were produced by 3D Systems, which builds 3-D printers, and it seems likely that other 3-D-printing companies will explore the possibility of printing off parts for pets. And while the idea of a cyborg pooch is heartwarming, it will be interesting to see how 3D printers will continue to advance the realm of human prosthetics, which have become increasingly sophisticated over the past decade.
Who let the dogs out? The 3D printer did.
Circumcision is child abuse.
Grandpa, how could they make anything before there were 3D printers?
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
The point is that the technology has advanced to the point that people can help a dog. This in itself is not much of an advance, but it demonstrates some of the potential of the advances that are being made. Oncethe cost of technology is reduced and it becomes more readlily available people do cool stuff and sometimes help someone or something else. Sometimes people just do cool stuff with technology. Now turn in your geek card since you cannot simply enjoy something cool that is also helpful for a dog.
Well, there's two reasons why 3D printing makes sense. One is prototyping. You might need to make a half dozen different prototypes that are pretty similar to each other before you find one that really works. The second is replacement. You may need to replace these things on a regular basis. Replacing them is just a matter of sending a file to a printer -- no craft skill needed at all.
Hand crafting something like this falls within the scope of my tinkering abilities. I've worked with fiberglass and epoxy and wood. But it's not for everyone and if someone had to *pay* me to make something like this it would probably cost a thousand dollars a pair.
Something like this would seem to fall into the sweet spot for 3D printing: something you need more than one of, but not *thousands* of identical copies.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
The point is that the technology has advanced to the point that people can help a dog. This in itself is not much of an advance, but it demonstrates some of the potential of the advances that are being made. Oncethe cost of technology is reduced and it becomes more readlily available people do cool stuff and sometimes help someone or something else. Sometimes people just do cool stuff with technology. Now turn in your geek card since you cannot simply enjoy something cool that is also helpful for a dog.
Advanced to what point? 3D prototyping isn't new. Animal prosthetics isn't new. Deciding a single hunk of extruded plastic is good enough to strap directly on a dog isn't a huge accomplishment. Dogs don't complaint about lack of comfort...
This story bugs me, not the tech.
It skips the whole development and production cost angle of 3D proto^H^H^H^H^Hmanufacturing, which in my opinion is the most important part.
The pet owner didn't call up Pet Legs R' Us and order an affordable custom prostheses which was promptly delivered. THAT would be a story worth telling, how 3D printing enabled a business and service like that. Such a business would, we should hope, understand each animal's range of motion well, and the bigger picture, quality of life. How good are new legs if we screw up their spine in a year?
This story is more about some goodwill from people running a 3D fab shop. They should get some presents from Santa this year, but it's a really crappy tech story.
While we're just giving things away, an even better story would be a shop milling a prosthesis out of solid titanium - because that is more difficult, expensive, and awesome than plastic. Could we run that story as "How a CNC mill Let a Dog Run for the First Time"?