Pawsitivity: Tenth standard students help return amputee dogs to health

Ellie, a ten-month-old dog lost two of her front paws when she was a puppy. With the help of prosthetic paws, Ellie no longer limps but romps around with a sheepish grin. Its almost like a Christmas miracle, being gifted the ability to walk...
 
It was a group of tenth standard girls from Shiv Nadar School who gave Ellie the gift to walk. They developed a forelimb for another dog, Delna who is an amputee as well. As part of a school project which involved designing a technology-based solution for a real-life problem, a team 'Pawsitivity' comprising students Arushi Shah, Navya Aggarwal, Navya Jain, Shreeya Mittal, Sprihha Singh, and Utpal Chauhan developed silicone-based prosthetics to make Ellie and Delna self-reliant.
 
One of the students of the team 'Pawsitivity', Navya Aggarwal, said: "It all began with trips to the shelter - Sophie Memorial Animal Relief Trust - and identifying the area of impact." Now, they had to come up with a process to mitigate the challenge they faced and create a positive impact. They tried building the prosthetics with several materials including clay but nothing worked. After a couple of failed attempts, hours of research and brainstorming, they figured silicone could be used as one of the materials to design the prosthetic limb.
 

Delna and Ellie with their prosthetic limb designed by the team

A detailed design was developed and a silicone 3D printer helped them reach the basic form of their prototype. After a few trials and errors, and experimentation with material to make it water-resistant, the final prototype was made. The final prototype is made of plastazote, silicone, medipop bandage and rubber. Delna required an entire forelimb whereas Ellie required prosthetic paws. Both of these cases were to be approached in a different way. To mimic a leg, the prosthetic limb is attached to Delna's upper body using a plastic case that can be strapped on using velcro strips and a sturdy spring is attached at the base to act as a paw.
 
A student of the group, Utpal Chauhan says, "The process was long-drawn and challenging, but there were enough incentives to keep us pushing our boundaries. The owner of the shelter where Delna and Ellie live supported us a lot."
 
The students also tell Business Standard how the project taught them a lesson or two about animal behavior. Shreeya says, "Once the prosthetic was designed, the next challenge was teaching Delna to walk on all-fours rather than balance on three legs. She is still learning and will master the act in some time." Mark Nelson, the head of IT department at Shiv Nadar school, helped them with the needed hand-holding. He says, "This six-month-long project is aimed at teaching kids how to identify a problem, apply design-thinking and come up with an innovative solution."
 
The students registered their cause on a crowd-funding platform and managed to raise Rs 10,000 through it. They even organised a bake sale in their school and raised about Rs 4,000. "This is a cost-effective solution and it doesn't require too many sub-parts, thus it can be accessed by a lot of people," says Mark. The students developed each prosthetic at about one-fourth of the prevalent market price.
 
The students plan on scaling up this concept going forward through a very simple model. An owner can just send pictures of the amputated limbs of his dog and necessary measurements to build the prosthetic. The team will design, build the prosthetic and send it across to the owner who can just help his dog wear it. In the future, team Pawsitivity wants to design an app that will help them reach out to many such furry amputees.

Designing a prosthetic limb for Delna