仿生宠物由德里克·坎帕纳（Derrick Campana）创立，其使命是为有需要的宠物提供假肢。坎帕纳（Campana）于2002年开始从事假肢工作，为人类开发矫形和假肢设备。然而，在2004年，坎帕纳（Campana）被要求治疗黑拉布拉多犬时需要帮助时，他受到启发，将其职业生涯转向了照顾动物。这一决定导致了Animal Ortho Care的成立，该公司迄今为止已经治疗了近20,000只动物。随着宠物护理业务的蓬勃发展，坎帕纳决定将公司分为两部分：专注于假肢的Bionic Pets和提供矫形器的Animal Ortho Care。
Bionic Pets was founded by Derrick Campana and is driven by the mission to provide prosthetic limbs to pets in need. Campana began working in prosthetics in 2002, developing orthotic and prosthetic devices for humans. In 2004, however, when he was asked for help treating a black labrador dog, Campana was inspired to pivot his career towards caring for animals. This decision led to the founding of Animal Ortho Care, a company that has treated nearly 20,000 animals to date. As his pet-care business boomed, Campana decided to split his company into two parts: Bionic Pets, which focuses on prosthetics, and Animal Ortho Care, which provides orthotics.
仿生宠物是名为“爪子向导”（Wizard of Paws）的新电视连续剧的主题，其中，坎帕纳（Canana）穿越美国，使用定制设计的假肢和矫形器治疗动物。近年来，动物义肢的开发过程越来越依赖于3D打印。为了支持3D打印过程，Bionic Pets寻求了DiveDesign（位于新泽西州Boonton的产品开发工作室）的帮助。
Bionic Pets is the subject of new television series called Wizard of Paws, in which Campana travels across the United States treating animals with custom-designed prosthetics and orthotics. In recent years, the process of developing the animal prosthetics has come to rely more and more on 3D printing. To support the 3D printing process, Bionic Pets enlisted the help of DiveDesign, a product development studio based in Boonton, New Jersey.
该工作室成立于两年前，“仿生宠物”是其第一批客户之一。从那时起，它与Campana合作，改进了动物义肢的开发过程，从劳动密集型方法转变为简化的基于3D打印的方法，该方法涉及使石膏模具成型，成型热塑性塑料，切割，打磨等。
The studio was founded two years ago and Bionic Pets was one of its first clients. Since then, it has worked with Campana to refine the process for developing animal prosthetics, transitioning from a labour intensive method involving shaping plaster molds, forming thermoplastics, cuttings, sanding and more, to a simplified 3D printing-based method.
“与Derrick联系并了解了他的挑战之后，我们知道我们拥有团队和资源来用数字工具重新构想此过程，” DiveDesign的联合创始人Adam Hecht说。 “我们开发了一个新的过程，包括四个主要步骤。首先，我们对狗的模具进行3D扫描（由客户使用铸造工具包提供）。接下来，我们将其上传到计算机，并使用我们专有的算法从扫描中生成假体。然后，我们在一台大型FDM 3D打印机上将其从TPU上打印过夜。最后，我们将脚拧紧并运出。”
“After connecting with Derrick and learning of his challenges, we knew we had the team and resources to re-imagine this process with digital tools,” said Adam Hecht, co-founder of DiveDesign. “We developed a new process, consisting of four main steps. First, we 3D scan the mold of the dog [which is provided by the client using a casting kit]. Next, we upload it to a computer and use our proprietary algorithm to generate the prosthetic from the scan. Then, we print it overnight out of TPU on a large format FDM 3D printer. And finally, we screw the leg on and ship it out.”
据报道，这种方法大大减少了假肢的生产时间（从大约15个小时的手工工作减少到只有一个小时）。这为Campana腾出了更多时间来帮助和治疗更多的动物。据DiveDesign称，得益于设计算法专家LANDAU Design + Technology和Gcreate的打印农场的支持，该产品已经在两个月内为仿生宠物运送了30多种3D打印假体。
This approach reportedly reduces the prosthetics production time dramatically (from about 15 hours of manual work to just one). This has freed up more time for Campana to help and treat more animals. According to DiveDesign, it has already shipped over 30 3D printed prosthetics in two months for Bionic Pets, thanks to support from design algorithm expert LANDAU Design+Technology and Gcreate’s print farm.
在他的整个职业生涯中，坎帕纳（Campana）帮助了各种各样的动物，从狗到猪和山羊再到大象。他的新系列《爪子向导》展示了动物义肢的发展过程以及它们如何影响动物的生活质量。该系列于4月初在BYUtv上首映。
Throughout his career, Campana has helped a wide array of animals, from dogs, to pigs and goats, to elephants. His new series Wizard of Paws showcases the process of developing animal prosthetics as well as how they can impact an animal’s quality of life. The series premiered in early April on BYUtv.
