searching time!

[khan]

I'm sure theres bound to be a few of you with too much time on your hands...

I used to go to the meeting of my local juggling club in Austin, and one time this guy brought in...I guess the only way to describe it is as an exoskeleton for your legs. I think it was two seperate units but they may have been joined at the top.

Essentially there was a pad for your feet, which straps onto your leg. It looked kind of like the crude paint attachement =P. It basically focused your weight onto one point about a foot below and a little behind your foot (i drew it wrong), had a big hinge and a very large curved metal bar that acted as a spring. So when you jumped, the metal bar flexed and then expanded again, and the hinge let the bottom of it move up slightly...so basically a large pogo stick sort of thing, but one for each foot and strapped to your legs. I

He let me try it on and I ran around the room...with a jump into a leap I could get about 4-5 feet vertically. Really amazing things. He said they cost him a few thousand dollars and that he bought them from a company that was on the internet. I was trying to search for them but to no avail. I'm sure someone else here has got to be interested in something like this. It was incredible to say the least and I'd really like to find where I could get a pair.
Google away!

/*Edit: I am aware I suck at paint. just to give you an idea of what it looks like =P */

[RWB]

Sounds like something me and my father could do with a good spring and some metal, plus an arc weilder ;)

[bothered]

I've seen them recently. There was a prog on the TV, I think it was a musical, there were two guys with these things boinging about the stage. I didn't watch this show, I just caught a few mins of it. I'll ask understanding wife if she remembers what it was.

[DogSoldier]

http://pages.zoom.co.uk/bionicboots/gallery.html

Bionic Boots are strap-on animal legs for people. They feature enlarged "Achilles tendons" inspired by those of a kangaroo, a pronounced toe but no heel (like the leg of a dog), and tripodal ostrich-like feet, the combination of which make you stand a foot and a half taller. But you don’t stand in Bionic Boots. You run.

The Bionic Boot works through the same impact tension that gives us bad knees and a chronic need for new running shoes; it simply reverses this tension via springs and elastic to create propulsion back up in the air. At present the Bionic Boot allows humans to run an easy twenty-five miles per hour, jump seven feet across, or spring four feet up in the air. Keahi Seymour, the Bionic Boot’s inventor, estimates that future, lighter, versions of the device will allow humans to make leaps of nearly twenty feet, and run almost as fast as a car.

So what does it feel like? As there is no prototype on the East Coast, I called Keahi Seymour in San Francisco, where he is refining the product and doing demos for the boogieboard-skateboard set. "It feels like you’re running like an animal," he says, "You feel the energy coming back with each step. Your stride length is enormous, and it gives you this animalistic, loping gait. Since you’re always on your tiptoes. Really, the only hard part is standing still."

Potential uses for the Bionic Boot, if it does what it claims, clearly exceed that of a toy. "Couriers could use it," Seymour says. "And police. It can go places a car or a bike can’t. Also, Elderly or injured people could use it to exercise, because it protects joints. And even short kids will be able to slam dunk!"

edit// http://pages.zoom.co.uk/bionicboots/beach.jpg

[Black Hawk]

intresting...

[Boogie]

I think <a href="http://www.popsci.com/popsci/computers/article/0,12543,184468,00.html">this<a/> looks more like the drawing. http://i.timeinc.net/popsci/images/power_boots.jpg You'll need to scroll down half the page. I've also seen others that have huge legs extending under the boots, will keep looking.

[Boogie]

And! check <a href="http://www.springwalker.com/">this<a/> out!

[bothered]

None of those are like the ones I saw. They had like large curved 'ski' like springs.

[khan]

I think bothered's is the one, but the springwalker....adding extra power? you could run crazy fast with those, or just trip and die. I think i'd probably do the latter.

[khan]

http://www.superdairyboy.com/poweriser.html

found it!
i want one so bad.

[keto]

I would be dead in a matter of ...not days or hours, mere minutes with a pair of those on LOL I'd break my neck going for a 'bigger' jump, sure as hell.

[bothered]

Those are the ones I saw, some awesome boinging with those.

[ginipig]

It would really suck if those things were to be in the mainstream. Society would crumble.

[khan]

hell, i'm saving my money starting now.

[Boogie]

khan,

Those are impressive! Glad you posted that link. Going to start saving too.

[Thrax]

There are things in every boy's life that he is positive he must have. These boots are one of them.

[TheSmJ]

Suck to be running 25+ MPH and trip over something. You'd lose all your skin for sure.

[TheBaron]

you might lose all your skin, but you'd lose all your skin realizing that you just leaped 15 feet into the air :D

[khan]

if any of you are thinking about buying these (i really think i am...), search ebay for "poweriser". theres a guy on there who apparently buys them in bulk and resells new in box, 299$ plus 27$ shipping, save you about 75$ =P. I just realized that I could afford these with my next paycheck...now I just need to lose some weight...I'm currently at 227 or so. I'd like to hit just under 220 so I'm sure I don't wear down the springs. but still. *drools*