Fabricated Pet Prints
Photos of our beloved – and sometimes deceased – pets can be a valuable memory and moral support. For pet owners who prefer a more tangible memory, but are not keen on having a stuffed pet in their living room, there is the 3D solution.
Even living pets can be scanned with handheld 3D scanners and reproduced in 3D filament. That is a recent development.
I remember our plan for fashion designer Monique Collignon. Just a few years ago we wanted to make a 3D scan and 3D print of her favourite horse. It did not work out back then, but today it is much easier to scan animals. You might also be interested in getting a 3D-printed miniature version of your cat, dog, rabbit, snake or fish.
Medical 3D prints
3D printing can also be a great help in medicine. The Internet community is generating 3D files that can be used to print customized splints, artificial hips, prostheses and other medical devices for pets. I even spotted a 3D-printed cart with two tiny wheels to help a disabled cat to ‘walk’ again. Check out websites like OrthoPets.com, AnimalOrthoCare.com, BoneSmart.org and 3Dprint.nih.gov to see companies that now offer custom-made medical solutions for pets and humans alike.
3D-printed toys
In the pet industry, the most booming area for 3D printing is in toys. A lot of designers post their files for 3D-printed toys online, where most of them are available for free. Printing such a design is where the business model comes in. There is, for example, a ball-shaped 3D printed dog toy. It is a sort of puzzle consisting of a few 3D-printed components that can be put together and contain a treat. Pets play endlessly with this type of toy.
Another example is the 3D-printed smart toy ‘GoBone’. This is a ‘smart’ bone based on replaceable 3D-printed parts, which can change its colour and size in a split second and can be remotely controlled with a smart phone. Customers order and pay before the product is actually produced. This is a crowdfunding project – a very contemporary way of financing product development.
What to do?
If you are a pet shop owner or manage a pet retail chain, you might want to consider installing an in-store 3D printer. You might wonder why, since everyone can have their own 3D printer at home or use an online service. The answer is that many pet owners do not have a technical background, but they still want their pet immortalized as a little 3D-printed statue or would like to provide them with 3D-printed accessories. This is the target group for an in-store 3D printer. Do not hesitate. Go for it, or offer a service to have products 3D-printed elsewhere.
In the future, 3D printing will develop in the direction of ‘Nano Assemblers’. These desktop machines are state-of-the-art 3D printers that can actually copy objects and devices exactly at molecular level, inside and outside. Start exploring the opportunities of the future right now!