Auburn team designs 3D-printed laryngoscope to improve anesthesia training

A goat's small mouth and airway make intubation hard to perform, and even harder for a room full of veterinary students to watch. To solve this, the large-animal anesthesia team at Auburn University College of Veterinary Medicine worked with the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering to build a low-cost, 3D-printed laryngoscope with a camera that shows the procedure in real time.¹

A gap in veterinary equipment

Katie Ray, LVT, has coached hundreds of veterinary students through their first large-animal intubations with traditional metal laryngoscopes. Video laryngoscopes improve visibility and guide tube placement in human medicine, but no similar product existed for ruminants.¹

Ray needed intubation footage for a continuing education presentation, so she bought a $30 borescope camera. She connected it to her phone and used it alongside a traditional laryngoscope to film the procedure. The results impressed her, and she began using the setup to give students a better view during labs.¹

Nassim Bouhabib, DVM, then joined the team and attached the camera directly to the laryngoscope. Ray and Bouhabib saw room for a more refined tool and partnered with the College of Engineering to build a device suited to their needs.¹

Engineering a custom solution

The veterinary team worked with Will Jones and Cooper Rice, mechanical engineering students in the Mechanical Polymer Additive Manufacturing (ME3D) Laboratory, to explore 3D-printed designs.¹

"Getting to do that in the stage that we are in our education was very helpful because it gives us a taste of what things will be like in the future," said Jones, a senior in his third year working in the lab.¹

The team went through several designs, testing and refining each one. Jones and Rice visited the veterinary campus to see the tool in use, gather feedback, and build new ideas into later versions. Rice graduated in May 2026. Through the project, he learned new modeling techniques, computer-aided design functions, and 3D-printing materials.¹

Jordan Roberts, ME3D director, said both groups benefited from the partnership. The veterinary team got a custom tool, and the engineering students gained experience applying classroom concepts to real product development.¹

"This is another example of an excellent experience for our students," Roberts said. "They gained new insights into subject matter very much outside of our normal areas of practice while learning from world-class practitioners like the Auburn Vet Med team."¹

The team finished the laryngoscope after nearly a year of work. The final device includes:¹

• A lever-controlled camera that adjusts the viewing angle for a clearer look at the airway
• A large display screen that shows the intubation in real time
• An adjustable blade for animals of different sizes

The device has proved useful with patients, but Ray sees its greatest value in teaching. Many students have never worked with goats or pigs before their labs.¹

"It's a teaching enhancement," Ray said.¹ Students still learn to intubate with traditional laryngoscopes, and the new device gives visual support to those still learning the procedure. "If you're a visual learner — and a lot of our students are — this tool gives them something they can see rather than us just explaining it."¹

Next steps for the design

The team has submitted a paper for publication that includes the files needed to 3D print the device. Once the paper is published, practitioners will be able to build the tool for their own use.¹ Ray helped carry the project from concept and funding through development and publication. For her, it showed the role veterinary technicians can play in innovation and research.¹

"This project was a great way to bridge the gap between veterinarians and technicians," Ray said. "There's definitely room for more veterinary technicians to be involved in research."

Reference

1. Bean CW. Printed for practice: Auburn team develops 3D-printed tool to enhance anesthesia training. Auburn University College of Veterinary Medicine. Published September 14, 2026. Accessed September 17, 2026. https://www.vetmed.auburn.edu/blog/cvm-news/printed-for-practice-auburn-team-develops-3d-printed-tool-to-enhance-anesthesia-training/