Just saw this go up the other day and thought I should share. While I was down in Colorado speaking to students at Colorado Mountain College, I was interviewed by a local journalist, David Frey. Super nice guy, and savvy enough with his questions to get me to eek out more than I should’ve about the next project.

Low and behold – it made it’s way to The Huffington Post! I’ve quoted a little bit for the interview below, but for the full article click right here.

Can you talk a little about this next project?

I’m basically going around the world and trying to find other people who have made really interesting adaptations outside of the kind of Western medical infrastructure a lot of us deal with. Especially from the experience I have had traveling abroad, you really get the sense that this is more prevalent in developing countries than it is in Western ones.

The need is also greater, because there’s less funding, there’s less governmental infrastructure, there’s less access to medical infrastructure. So that is going to be the next project. In many ways it’s the inverse of the Rolling Exhibition: focusing on people who get stared at, maybe because of their interesting adaptations. We have locations like India, Congo, Haiti, Russia, Brazil.

But this is not just an exhibit. This is a book project.

I’m pitching a book, but it’s also going to be delivered through a photo series. So you have portraits of the people who created these interesting adaptations interspersed between each chapter that would otherwise be a massive travelogue. I’m trying to keep the photo project moving simultaneously as well as write about it as well as chronicle other people’s inventions. It’s a bit daunting.

So how did your new cheetah legs come about?

Trying to profile people in developing countries, I realized I had to have something that could take me off the sidewalk, right? The skateboard, despite all its practicality, is limited to the ground rolling beneath it. I found that I needed something that is going to allow me to ambulate without having to deal with pavement.

If people stare at you on a skateboard, they must really stare at you on cheetah legs.

Yeah, if I’m in Saudi Arabia or Haiti, I think I’ll get a few stares on this next project.

First, links:

• www.kiva.org
• www.openprosthetics.org
• http://wefollow.com/
• http://www.kickstarter.com/
• http://www.ning.com/
• “I’m a dog chasing cars!”
• Access to the Open Prosthetics Community
• Malcom Gladwell article

Here are also some links to my social profiles and other online homes:

• http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kevin-Michael-Connolly/37766568619
• http://twitter.com/KevinConnolly
• http://kevinmichaelconnolly.tumblr.com/
• http://www.youtube.com/user/ConnollyPhotography?feature=mhum

Here is also a pdf copy of the notes that I used today in class. Sorry if they are completely incoherent, but hey – no better than yours. Here ya go:  9-27 Notes

Thanks again so much for the great class, everyone! It was great bouncing some novel ideas off new brains, and I hope to see all of you online soon!

So last week I was interviewed by the BBC for a ten minute program called “Outlook”. The show just popped up online, and I gotta say, it’s a fairly funny interview to listen to if you have the time.

If you’ve ever wanted to know about my dating life and how staring can be compared to sex, look no further. Sorry for the link, but I was told that the BBC has “lots of really tough rules about copyright of audio”.

You can also check an abbreviated audio slideshow here.

Finally, because I’m still holding a bit of a grudge for not being able to embed the interview directly on my blog, here is something that I can embed – a compilation of BBC bloopers from the past ten years. English accents always sound more entertaining when there is just a tinge of discomfort and embarrassment to them…

Sorry for being so scarce lately, but between some nasty sickness and tax week, I didn’t spend much time keeping up with the site. However, judging by the activity in my inbox last week, it seems like that was the case for many…

Anyway – it looks like we have a landslide victory! While B.L.T.’s made an admirable effort, it looks like Connolegs is the clear winner.  The only bummer in all of this is I’m STILL waiting on extra Poweriser parts… However, the second I get the remaining set, I’ll post a messy youtube of the whole thing in action.

EDIT:

I know - I need to crank out another render...

So in no particular order, here are the final five to vote on.

1. Connolegs
2. B.L.T.  (short for Bouncing Leg Things)
3. RoboLegs
4. The Centaur
5. Cheetah Legs (or Arms – specify in your vote, please)

This is going to be the final tally. So if your name was not included on the list, my apologies. Please, cast your vote either on here, or my facebook page using one of the five options listed above. Remember the person who came up with the name that won will receive a free, signed copy of Double Take!

As a quick recap, the actual springs will be based off of Powerisers , and have already shown to work right out of the box. Unfortunately, Poweriser is holding up my order of two more sets of the “Youth” model, so it looks like ambitions for a pre-May prototype might have to be scaled back a bit. However, things are moving over at Open Prosthetics, and even my old prostheticist (the guy who built my original legs and butt shoe) is jumping into the mix.

So last Friday, I made it onto one of my favorite tech/science blogs with an essay about open source prosthetics! I’ve already received a ton of traffic and comments from the article, and if you’ve been following things on here – it’s most certainly worth a read. Let me know what you think, and who knows – I might just show up on the site again sometime in the future…

You can find the full article here.

You too, could look dashing in our upcoming Spring line!

Well first off, thanks to everyone for their participation. Over the past few days of trying to think of a name for these bouncy-leg things (on the issue of fairness, I’m not settling on anything yet). Not only did I get a whole host of names for the B.L.T’s, but also for my butt shoe as well. So I’m going to need some help. Below is the list and I’m going to need some votes for what name works best.

Begin!

L Springs
Comfort Cruiser
Tigger Tails
Metal Peds
Connollegs (clever!)
Bound-a-Round
Springy Flingers
The Mantis
The Centaur (this one and the “The Mantis” are totally badass. Bravo)
Mission Possible
Pro-Springs
Sprint Widgets
Connolly Bouncers
All-Terrain Tibias
Robolegs
Jumping Jacks
Terra Trotters
Rough Steppers
Rough Gliders
Kangaroo Legs
Mobility Legs
Mobility Walkers
Dummy Jumper
BodPod
Keminolly Legs
Universal Rebounders
GorillaPeds
GorillaFly
And because this is my blog and I can do whatever I want, I’m officially entering “B.L.T.” to the list. I like the officiousness of an acronym without any real substance behind it.

Generally, I think it would be best to stick with something simple. I’m thinking three syllables or less. So for those that have been helping out, now’s the time to put in a vote! The person who thought of the original moniker will get a signed copy of Double Take mailed over to them. You can leave a comment on here, or head over to my facebook page, where I’ll be a bit more involved with chatting back and forth. I’ll post the results in a week.
And as a funny addendum, here’s the list for my butt shoe.

The Keister
The Tushy
Butt Planter Tush Cushion
The Cheek  Seat
The Butt Condo
Asscap
Zapaton

I’m officially referring to my shoe now only as the “Butt Condo.” Makes me think it’s a bit more roomy in there than it is…

Seems as if the first element of these jumping crutches works right out of the box…

I gotta say, this is encouraging. After pulling these two Powerisers out of the box, I was able to start bouncing around on them without the assistance of a torso device. The thing that most immediately stood out to me was how remarkably easy it was to balance on these things. Staying low to the ground kept my center of gravity pretty consistent to what I’m used to. And while the bounce doesn’t seem too impressive from this video, you need to keep in mind that the arm crutches will be used mostly as shock absorbers – relying instead on the torso spring to provide the main thrust.

Now I just gotta get to fabricating the main torso device…

This is my latest project, and I need some help! Hit the jump to smell what I'm stepping in...

It’s long been a desire of mine to build something that could practically allow me to get around on rough terrain without the need of tank treads or an expensive prosthesis.  Up until now, anytime I’ve needed to ambulate across some rocky terrain or up a flight of stairs, I’ve hopped off of my skateboard (or sometimes wheelchair) and carried myself on my hands. For short distances, this has always worked well, has and allowed me to access every location from high-alpine mountains in Montana, to back country roads in Romania. But a conflict is looming now as I enter my mid-twenties: growing travel ambition coupled with increasingly sore and achy shoulders. In order to solve one, typically you have to compromise on the other – and I’ve never been a big fan of compromising ambition.

Just like many with a disability, it’s often the ancillary conditions that develop alongside whatever body part you’re missing that can cause the real health issues. For me, that means wearing out my hands, back, or shoulders before I’ve reached my thirties. Most of this comes from the raw impact inflicted on my body every time I take a step with my arms. Punching your hands and tailbone into the ground – while effective – isn’t necessarily the best way to get around. I’ve been warned about this by almost every doctor I’ve ever spoken with – from GP’s to orthopedic surgeons. And almost every one that’s delivered the warning has failed to followup with any dynamic solutions. The best alternative I’ve been suggested is a wheelchair. The worst has been a shrug of the shoulders (on the doctor’s part) and a slow back-out of the room.

So without guidance being offered by doctors – and quickly mounting desire to see some new places – I’ve started work on these…jumping crutches. I’m not terrifically good with names, so if you’re reading this and you can think of a better name than that, let me know.

The basic idea behind these crutches is to create a system that acts as both a suspension and propulsion system for the body. I would walk using a swing-through gate (which is what I use now; compare it to the bipedal gate you probably use) while utilizing the torso device for my main thrust/bounce. I’m hoping that once the setup is ready, that I’ll be able to pull 4-6ft strides (or lopes? gallops? I don’t know what the hell to call this…) from the apparatus.

Using off-the-shelf Powerisers (the child’s model), this could be extremely cheap to create and manufacture. We’re talking less than 350$ to buy two sets of the jumping stilts required to build my setup. I’ve posted this on openprosthetics.org, but will keep everyone up to speed about it’s progress on here as well.

I’ve already ordered one set of Powerisers, and will hopefully have another on the way soon. Until then, here’s a couple more renders to think about…

An example from the site - the open-source prosthetic Fishing Rod. I'm in awe.

The other day I stumbled across one of the coolest websites I’ve had the pleasure of seeing in a long time. It’s called “The Open Prosthetics Project” and it’s actually been around for while. The central premise of the site “…is an open source collaboration between users, designers and funders with the goal of making our creations available for anyone to use and build upon.”

Drawing from the open-source software movement, Jonathan Kuniholm started working on this as a way for small groups of people to create prosthetics for others while openly sharing the designs. As someone who has been exposed to the prosthetic world is whole life, this could be a game changer if it gains enough momentum. The benefits could be enormous for veterans, kids, or anyone else that might not have the cash flow to keep up with the latest and greatest prosthetics. The above photo is an example of one of the more simple designs featured on both OPP’s wiki page and ning account.

I really dig this site, and plan to be submitting a couple of ideas that I’ve been working on for while a now. If anyone out there is reading this, and has any interest in design, prosthetics, disability, or openly-sourced anything – you gotta check these guys out.

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