Tuesday, July 19, 2016

We Get a Kick Out of This 3D-Printed Penguin Boot Project

Our students love stories like this one about Purps the Penguin. 3D Systems, our Strategic Partner in the 3D ThinkLink Initiative, teamed up with a middle school class in Connecticut to create a 3D-printed boot for the injured bird at Mystic Aquarium.


You might have seen stories about other ailing animals – dogs, cats, birds, horses, turtles and more – that are living better lives now, thanks to 3D-printed devices. One of our favorites is Derby, a dog born with deformed front legs. We discovered that 3D Systems created Derby’s prosthetics with the help of Derrick Campana of Animal Orthocare, located just a few miles from our Chantilly, Virginia, headquarters.


Derrick Camapana shows students
a prosthetic foot for a dog
We connected with Derrick last year and he hosted a vocational orientation event to show our students from Maryland and DC how he uses 3D scanning, design and printing in his work. He also made it possible for us to acquire some high-end equipment for our 3D ThinkLink Creativity Lab, including a Z450 full-color inkjet and powder bed printer. We honored Animal Orthocare with our 2015 Community Partner Award.

Learning about animals like Purps and Derby, and visiting places like Animal Orthocare, is inspirational for the at-risk kids we serve. Many of them tell us they want to use their 3D skills to help others. Some are particularly interested in what they can do for animals.

For example, Kimora Felton was touched by Derby’s story. Kimora completed our 3D ThinkLink course, graduated from South Carolina Youth ChalleNGe Academy last December and came to our 3D ThinkLink Creativity Lab in January for a week of advanced training.

We awarded Kimora a $500 scholarship for an essay she wrote about her 3D ThinkLink experience. In it, she explained how she hopes to become a veterinarian and use 3D printing to help her patients.


Kimora Felton at work in our
3D ThinkLink Creativity Lab
“Involving 3D printing into this field will give deformed, damaged or diseased animals that are on the verge of being euthanized a second chance,” wrote Kimora, who enrolled in the Veterinary Assistant program at Horry Georgetown Technical College in Conway, South Carolina, earlier this year.

Kimora is getting a second chance, too, thanks to SCYCA and YouthQuest.

“Before getting involved with 3D printing my mind was scattered. Trying to relieve anger and finding ways to express myself, I’d do things that made me act out of character, which led me to think I wasn’t worth anything at all,” she said. “Finding myself as a student of YouthQuest Foundation Program made me think of myself as someone. I finally found a way to express myself through creating digital objects and turning them all into 3-dimensional physical models.”

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