WASHINGTON — A dog with no front paws learned to run with the help of a 3-D printer.
A tells the story of how the company鈥檚 3-D-printed prosthetics allowed Derby, a disabled dog, to run upright for the first time.
Derby was born with a congenital deformity characterized by small forearms and no front paws. Because of this, Derby could only move around on soft indoor surfaces.
3D Systems鈥� Tara Anderson, who fostered Derby, thought she could give the pup the freedom he craved.
鈥淭he beauty of 3-D printing is that if the design needs to be adjusted, we don鈥檛 have to wait for time-consuming and expensive traditional manufacturing processes, we can simply print out a new set,鈥� Vice President of Product and Channel Management, 3DS Buddy Byrum said in a news release.
鈥淭he dovetailing of 3-D scanning and design with the ProJet 5500X multi-material 3-D printing allowed for the creation of complete prosthetics printed in a single build, custom-fit to Derby.鈥�
With his new legs, Derby can聽run with — and even past —聽his newly adoptive owners, Sherri and Dom Portanova.
鈥淗e runs with Sherri and I every day, at least two to three miles,鈥� Dom Portanova said in a news release. 鈥淲hen I saw him sprinting like that on his new legs it was just amazing.鈥�
Watch a video about Derby and his new prosthetics:
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