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See Derby run -- on custom 3D-printed prosthetics

An engineering team from 3D Systems (3DS) has successfully outfitted Derby, a Husky mix dog, with 3D-printed prosthetics, allowing him to run down the street for the first time ever. Derby was born with a congenital deformity characterized by small forearms and no front paws. While always cheerful, Derby was, until now, only able to get around on soft surfaces. Hard surfaces, like sidewalks, cause severe abrasions on his front extremities.

While acting as a temporary foster caretaker for Derby, Tara Anderson, a 3D Systems employee in Andover, MA, started thinking of ways to give Derby more options for mobility. Even though Derby was eventually adopted by long-term caregivers in Pennsylvania, Anderson couldn't get helping Derby out of her head.

Tara knew that 3D printing afforded an unmatched level of design freedom, functionality, and speed. Using 3D technology, she knew it would be possible to rapidly design and manufacture prosthetics customized to Derby's morphology. Derby had used a wheeled cart in the past, but it was not the ideal solution.

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 Derby's prosthetic 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.

Tara and the designers used the 3DS ProJet 5500X to build the complete prosthetics in one step, because the machine delivers multi-material 3D printing in a single build. Comfortable cups in rubber and rigid spokes and base were created simultaneously. Printing two materials at once turned out to be a key to the design. Ready in a few hours, the prosthetics were shipped to Derby in Pennsylvania for testing.

"The beauty of 3D printing is that if the design needs to be adjusted, we don't have to wait for time-consuming and expensive traditional manufacturing processes. We can simply print out a new set," said Buddy Byrum, Vice President of Product and Channel Management, 3DS. "The dovetailing of 3D scanning and design with the ProJet 5500X multi-material 3D printing allowed for the creation of complete prosthetics printed in a single build, custom-fit to Derby."

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

The design is an ongoing project and can be tweaked if Derby shows signs of spine discomfort or other issues.

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

Published December 2014

Source: 3D Systems

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