We’ve seen a lot of dogs in wheelchairs — a lot, really, just so many, even one called Anderson Pooper — but never before have we seen a dog in a wheelchair made with a 3D printer.
Presenting Bubbles:
Handsome gal, isn’t she? She was born without her legs, and fortunately her parents Trevor Byers and Elissa Smoak did a little web-searching and figured, hey, we got this. They bottle-fed Bubbles and committed to getting her a wheelchair once she was old enough.
And then, being the tinkering sort, they decided to make their own, using a combination of, and we quote www.3ders.org, “carbon fiber, model airplane, and 3D-printed parts.”
This is what those parts look like:
And because they made those things, they’re able to add a little flair as they tinker with the design:
According to www.3ders.org, the couple wanted to encourage others to use their design, so they uploaded the wheelchair design to MakerBot Thingiverse, where you can download the files. They think they have a winning product, saying it’s cheaper and more immediately accessible than other dog wheelchairs out there.
“She is the reason I bought my printer in the first place, and she loves the freedom it has given her,” Byers says on the site.
Here’s Bubbles racing around in her newest cart:
Via CNET and www.3ders.org
Read more dog news on Dogster:
