Wearable Pain Relief and Prosthetics for Pets

dogs 2556820 1280

In 2018, Americans spent $72 billion on their pets, according to the American Pet Products Association. It’s part of a trend of people ‘humanizing’ their pets: spending excess money on toys, beds, insurance, even day spas and gourmet meals. For many people, pets are the new children, or at least they’re being treating as such. And while the lavish splurges on pampering sessions may be a ridiculous use of money, this trend isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It also means more people are paying closer attention to what their animals need, and that extends beyond household pets.

Animal Ortho Care (AOC) is a vet tech company that stays away from the spa sessions and instead develops animal prosthetics and braces. The company’s not limiting itself to dogs either; it’s helped over 20,000 animals from elephants to birds. It’s revolutionizing the rehabilitation and pain management of animals in need with some high-tech products.

AOC

Owner Derrick Campana started out fitting orthotics and prosthetics for people, and got the idea for AOC when a vet brought her dog into the practice. In the 15 years since, the company has expanded its product range with varying treatments to help more animals. The company sends a casting kit to veterinarians and pet owners to take molds, and creates a customized brace or prosthetic once the mold is sent back. Its custom-fit braces sell for about $600, and the prosthetics around $1,000 to $1,700; both are a much cheaper alternative to surgery.

Campana told AOL that he’s glad people are giving their pets a second chance. “If you bring a dog in with a fractured toe, a traditional vet might amputate the entire limb… when you hop on one leg, the rest of your body can break down so quickly. We have proven that we can tack on at least two years to a dog’s life by adding a prosthetic.”

Innovative PEMF Therapy Tech

AOC’s products are designed to be comfortable and intuitive, because it understands that pets are family. The company’s braces are made with thermoforming medical grade foam, and have dynamic hinges and tensioning systems. But if that wasn’t enough, AOC pushed itself to provide ground-breaking technology in its medical devices. This led to the creation of the world’s first wearable pain relief system for pets using PEMF therapy.

It relieves pain by sending pulses to the body at specific frequencies to stimulate cells. This triggers electrical currents. These currents allow bodies to move and think, but they can become damaged because of disease, trauma or toxins. PEMF therapy restores positive and negative charges in the body’s cells and help speed up the recovery process. Unlike x-ray machines, PEMF waves are at extremely low frequencies, so are completely safe. The tech also has more than 60 years of clinical success behind it and been FDA approved for 25 years.

The result is a treatment that increases circulation, accelerates bone healing and enhances muscle function. It’s used on animals with joint and bone pain, after surgeries, or to ease pain from Hip Dysplasia, Osteoarthritis and In-vertebral Disc Disease.

Are you developing tech for animals? Did you know your R&D work could be eligible for the R&D Tax Credit and you can receive up to 14% back on your expenses? To find out more, please contact a Swanson Reed R&D Specialist today or check out our free online eligibility test.

Who We Are:

Swanson Reed is one of the U.S.’ largest Specialist R&D tax advisory firms, offering tax credibility assessments, claim preparation, and advisory services. We manage all facets of the R&D tax credit program, from claim preparation & audit compliance to claim disputes. 

Swanson Reed regularly hosts free webinars and provides free IRS CE and CPE credits for CPAs.  For more information please visit us at www.swansonreed.com/webinars or contact your usual Swanson Reed representative.

Giving Feeling to Robots & Prosthetics: Researchers at UT Dallas develop artificial touch-sense whiskers

touch

Whiskers are arguably the cutest feature on a dog or cat:

cute-cat-3    cutecat2

cutedog1     cutedog2

Need we say more? Those pleasant-looking features are used as touch sensors that send information to an animal’s brain. It’s one way that an animal makes sense of their surroundings. This is why it’s important to not trim Fido’s or Tom’s whiskers. Researchers at the University of Texas at Dallas realized this importance and have created artificial whiskers, appropriately called ‘e-whiskers’.

“We’ve created some of the highest density of e-whiskers to date,” said Dr. Walter Voit, an associate professor of materials science engineering and mechanical engineering at UT Dallas. “When you have a lot of sensors like this that can be dragged over a surface, you can then use them to measure many interesting properties. Our e-whiskers were able to detect force, pressure, proximity, temperature, stiffness and topography. As they brush up against—or whisk across—various materials, they mimic the sensing capabilities of human skin.” The development of e-whiskers is a significant step in the advancement of electronic human skin, which could be used in the fields of robotics and even prosthetics.

E-whiskers were developed by using shape-memory polymers that react to heat. A flexible strain sensor, which has the same diameter as a human hair, was attached to the top of a polymer pattern. Researchers then blew hot air through the bottom of the polymer cutouts, thus making the material soft. This allowed the e-whiskers to rise and become 3D. Any disturbance induced changes that interacts with the strain sensor is then tracked, thus giving ‘life’ to the polymer cutouts.

“In robotics, e-whiskers could replicate the functionalities of human skin by determining what’s hard and soft, hot and cold, smooth and rough. They could allow the robot to identify objects and interact with them safely, making robots more ‘human friendly’,” said Jonathan Reeder, lead author who conducted the research.

This concept may seem like something straight out of a sci-fi novel, but it’s not that far off from becoming a reality. “Integrating electronic sensors directly with biology is the most compelling application but presents a set of tough challenges. Namely, how to translate electronic signals generated by the sensor into the ‘language’ of the nervous system, and how to form a stable mechanical and electrical coupling between the flexible electronic and the soft tissue.” Reeder also mentioned that the sensitivity of the e-whiskers, such as changes in topology and temperature, as well as the sensors’ response time, all exceed the capabilities of human skin “by at least an order of magnitude.” “It’s not impossible for a person with a prosthetic to actually have better sensitivity than with the human hand,” Reeder added.

This development offers hope to the 2 million Americans who are living with a prosthetic limb. For more information on this impressive advancement, please click here.

Are you developing a technology so robots and prosthetics can have more human-like qualities? Did you know that you can receive up to 14% back on your research expenses with the R&D Tax Credit? To find out more, please contact a Swanson Reed R&D Specialist today or check out our free online eligibility test.

Who We Are:

Swanson Reed is a Specialist R&D tax advisory firm, offering tax credibility assessments, claim preparation, and advisory services to the state of Texas. We manage all facets of the R&D tax credit program in Texas, from claim prep & audit compliance to claim disputes. 

Swanson Reed regularly hosts free webinars and provides free IRS CE and CPE credits for CPAs.  For more information please visit us at www.swansonreed.com/webinars or contact your usual Swanson Reed representative.