Student Project Helps Disabled Kitten
Flipper was born with a twisted spine. She's not paralyzed, but her back end doesn't walk on the same plane as her front end. Vets at the Aspen Park Vet Hospital in Conifer, Colorado, considered putting her down, but then decided to seek the help of the the Blitz Robotic Club at Conifer High School.
Club members—some of whom love cats—developed three prototypes that acted as hind legs for the furry feline. She gets into a harness, which helps her stay erect, then with hind legs pumping Flip begins motoring around the clinic.
“This is just the neatest thing,” said Jan Gurney. “She loves kicking her back legs to help power the cat-traption around, it gives her so much mobility and in time her legs will get stronger and her spine may also loosen up to allow for her to one day get around on her own.”
The kids who build robots used the CAD program to get 3D images of how the chariot of sorts could work.
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