Derby the dog gets new prosthetic legs through 3D printer

Derby the dog is a pretty plucky and lucky.

Not only was he rescued by the amazing rescue group Peace and Paws in Hillsborough, N.H. , he caught the attention of Tara Anderson, a 3D Systems employee.

Anderson, who works for the company that makes 3D designs, knew that  3D printing could help Derby gain a level of freedom, functionality and speed.

Using 3D technology, she knew it would be possible to rapidly design and manufacture prosthetics customized to Derby’s morphology. He was born with deformed front legs. imgres

Tara Anderson, who agreed to foster him, got Derby a cart, but it limited his mobility and wasn’t the same as running. So with the help of her team at work, they decided to build Derby prosthetic legs so he could run.

Marshaling help from Derrick Campana, a certified Orthotist at Animal Ortho Care in Chantilly, VA, and 3DS designers, Kevin Atkins and Dave DiPinto, data of Derby’s forearms and 3D scan data of a cup design, created by Campana, were used to create the 3D design.

The team utilized Geomagic Freeform, 3DS’ digital sculpting platform, which allowed them to create perfect organic shapes and smooth curves for Derby’s shape.images-2

The ProJet 5500X delivers multi-material 3D printing in a single build, so Anderson and the designers could build complete prosthetics with comfortable cups in rubber and rigid spokes and base. Ready in a few hours, the prosthetics were shipped to Derby for testing.

Through the power of 3D, Derby is now able to run alongside, and sometimes past, his newly adoptive owners, Sherri and Dom Portanova.

Dom Portanova says it’s a pretty remarkable thing to see his dog sprint.

“He runs with Sherri and I every day, at least two to three miles…When I saw him sprinting like that on his new legs it was just amazing.

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Peg Fong is also in recovery from newspapers

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