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morales

Skydiving assistive device/mechanism

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Hi everyone,

I'm completing my fourth year of Mechanical Engineering and I enrolled in medical device course. Our final project is to design an assistive device that will help someone with a disability enjoy a sport or a leisure activity. I'd like to do something involving skydiving. I was wondering if I could get some input on what exactly to tackle, if someone could provide me with some problems they have encountered and would like to have possibly solved it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Mario

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there is a fellow in Canada that has written on this.

http://www.jagworksdesign.com/Adaptive-Skydiving/html/Adaptive_Skydiving_Opening_Page.html

This is a link on this page to manual he put together. I cannot speak to its content as I have no experience with this topic.

Note: the Download Manual at the top works, at least on other doesn't so chose the right link to get the manual.
"Where troubles melt like lemon drops, away above the chimney tops, that's where you'll find me" Dorothy

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I know skydiving legend Bill Weber can give you some great ideas. Its right up his alley and he works in a part of the industry that makes devices for different, out of the ordinary applications.

PM me and I will put you in touch with him. He is a great guy and easy to talk to.
You live more in the few minutes of skydiving than many people live in their lifetime

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Mario,

Having done a bit of instruction with persons with various leg disabilities, a great advantage would be to have a device that would allow a person to adjust the position of their legs (angle at the knee).

The current methods that we utilise consist of fixing the knee angle in order to avoid uncontrolled motion.

The ability to change the knee angle in freefall is a major advantage for control.

Perhaps a remote control, hand operated?

A good resource for this would be Dale Elliott in Australia, as he has just recently conquered the art of freefall, while being having a lower body disability.

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Mario,

Having done a bit of instruction with persons with various leg disabilities, a great advantage would be to have a device that would allow a person to adjust the position of their legs (angle at the knee).

The current methods that we utilise consist of fixing the knee angle in order to avoid uncontrolled motion.

The ability to change the knee angle in free-fall is a major advantage for control.

Perhaps a remote control, hand operated?

A good resource for this would be Dale Elliott in Australia, as he has just recently conquered the art of free-fall, while being having a lower body disability.



Funny, when I first read this thread I was thinking the exact same thing. Having all my flippers working I didn't want to suggest it...however having flown with a lot of people that might find something like that helpful I'm glad you brought it up.

I was thinking some kind of self-contained fast servo unit to vary leg angle that might be operated by a blow tube or squeeze switch in a glove.










~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~

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Any chance you might have Dale Elliott's contact info?



Hey good to see you reaching out to the general forum's here.
I had wondered how your project was going along- as after the last drawings before Christmas I had not read anything new from you.
Are you still pursuing the wheels concept?

If you read through the links in the PM's I sent you back in Nov Dale's links are in there- to his threads....

through them just click on his name and send a PM.
Or, like you found me through youtube, Dale Elliott is under his own name on youtube- and that's another way to not only see videos of what he's been up to, but contacting him as well.

Wishing you continued success on the project, and looking forward to learning how it all works out.

You had some very interesting concepts going a couple of months ago.
To become active member in the Bonus Days Club you must very narrowly escape eternal freefall ... one exciting time.)-Pat Works

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Hey Mario,

Very keen to talk to you pal. I have found that the biggest hurdles to overcome for me and many others are the limits due to equipmet. I have had to make my own leg braces and 'supa pants' and without these i could not jump safely.

I am an aircraft engineer and pilot as well so i could really give you some awesome input into your project. Please email me [email protected] or skype 'daleelliott' Adelaide South Australa.

Thanks for considering this area of sport for your project. I hope we can get something happening.

Dale
Get busy living or get busy dying!

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I spent several months discussing this type of project with an engineering student in UK who sent me these as his design projects.

Needless to say, I did share my thoughts about the snag hazards (and those wheels on the feet- as we don't typically land on our feet)....

I haven't heard back from him since December, but am curious to see what he did with the whole concept/project.


It is good to see folks interested in this type of a project, and essential that a lot of feedback is being requested from the general population worldwide from skydivers, manufacturers, etc.


I thought to toss up the two designs he was working on (and hopefully modified them drastically) but one thing he had going for him is the idea that he'd use 3DO in sections of a suit for protection- that certainly was a concept worth considering (although 3DO seems to be quite costly).

I had initially mixed up these two inventors- thinking that this thread was started by that engineering student. My apologies for the confusion.

enjoy the pics of his ideas ;)

To become active member in the Bonus Days Club you must very narrowly escape eternal freefall ... one exciting time.)-Pat Works

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Hey y'all. I'm new back to the sport after taking the wrong turn on my way to the DZ one day 20 years ago. I'm an aerospace engineer, and my wife was disabled in 2003 from an auto accident - she doesn't skydive but thought from my jumping experience and being the primary caregiver for her these past 8 years I may be able to help in some small way.

I love the creative process, thinking through ideas, and would totally be open to talking thorough this to see if an affordable device could be designed.

Would only need to work for a few minutes at a time, just off the top of my head, legs strapped together with SAD between them. Battery operated servo that defaults legs straight, either a hand squeeze or bite device would allow a bend at the knees. Remove hand squeeze pressure or bite pressure & legs go straight (or whatever the preferred default position should be).

Am I wayyyyy off base here? Let me know!

[email protected]

Randy

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The legs strapped together set up does not really work very well, when I first designed the system Both Dale and I use, (and I think Minna as well) I went through many different designs, but the only one that worked in multiple modes like flat flying and sit flying was a legs locked at 90deg set up and a web spacer between the legs to keep them from moving around. As airtwardo mentioned a device that can change the angle of lock would be most beneficial. This way we could start making moves in to the Wingsuit flying arena, which is the next Para challenge.
all that is gold does not glitter
not all those who wander
are lost!

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