3D printing is the latest trend in the printing industry. It is everywhere, creating everything. But, can this latest technology be used to generate body parts of organisms?
Well, may be its the year to shell-ebrate!
Freddy, a female tortoise, lost its shell entirely and received severe burns in the forest fires of Brazil.
When a veterinarian found it, he considered putting the burnt tortoise to sleep as it was impossible for the poor thing to survive. However, he decided to try its luck and teamed up with a printer who extended a helping hand.
The designer used a computer program to design a shell designed which was based on another similar sized tortoise and then built it with a 3D printer. This is the first prosthetic shell of any kind built by 3D printing.
The team took 40 pictures from various angles of a real shell of a tortoise and each piece of the prosthetic shell took about 50 hours to print.
The new shell is built out of cheap corn derived material which interlocks together like a jigsaw puzzle.
The new shell is doing a fantastic job as a protector but looked very boring in a plain white colour. The Animal Avengers team collaborated with an artist who painted the shell to look just like a real one. The delicate job of painting a 3D printed shell was accomplished with the help of non toxic colours.
While Freddy the tortoise was undergoing her recovery, she not only survived severe burns but bouts of pneumonia and 45 days of not eating. However, Freddy now appears to be happy and enjoy her first of a kind shell.
The power of 3D printing can be judged from this distinct example and this is just a small step into the future. In times to come, 3D printing will become a mainstay and will spread its wings not only into the printing world, but into every field imaginable.