A vision for creating better Prosthetics with Easton LaChappelle – Ep8

 

As a young boy, Easton LaChapelle had an interest in making things…anything…with no barriers.  Then he thought he should build something that would help others, and decided he would design a better robotic prosthetic.  With the use of the internet to learn from experts and figure out how to build more efficiently, he also learned electronics, and eventually learned how to do program on an Arduino/raspberry pi type of device.  Next he asked for a 3D printer for his 14th birthday, and with trial-and-error, he kept taking that to the next level, teaching himself everything he needed along the way, including SOLIDWORKS.

Along this short journey (he is only 23) he has met the U.S. President, Tony Robbins, and many other influential people.  He also met a young girl who needed a better prosthetic.  What happened next?  We’ll, you should listen to his amazing story (really, it’s quite amazing) in this podcast:

 

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Learn more about Easton and his organization here:  UnlimitedTomorrow.com

Below is a quick video of how Easton creates his great prosthetic designs in SOLIDWORKS:

 

Transcription

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

 

Easton LaChapelle 0:00
Actually a couple weeks ago we were working with with it with a young girl. And there’s so many little things like when she put on device for the first time. That was the first time she was able to roll down both of her long sleeves like she’s her long sleeve shirts just did never been able to roll down both sleeves. That was like one of those little things like wow, never even thought about that.

Cliff 0:17
Hi there. This is the subtle works for the design podcast, a collection of inspiring stories about those who create, build, and then an engineer new ideas and actual new products. And by the way, they all use solid works. I’m your host. Click meddling. And this episode is titled changing the vision for how prosthetic limbs are created. Listen as my colleague Mark Rushton interviews Easton, less Chappelle who is a man who had a vision of deciding state of the art prosthetic arms for children, which you started designing in his bedroom with a basic 3d printer, you would not believe where this idea has taken him and who he has met along the way. It’s amazing journey in a short amount of time. So let’s jump right in and hear his amazing

Mark Rushton 1:02
Hi everyone. I’m here with the Easton LaChapelle in upstate New York. And here to hear his story. I remember seeing Easton as a 14 year old was it fourteen? Fourteen when you visited the White House. And then again, more recently with a new new version of what what you took to the White House and I just been completely inspired by that story so great that we can share it with with a lot more people hopefully,

Easton LaChapelle 1:30
absolutely.

Mark Rushton 1:31
So Eastern. Tell us tell us your story. How did it all start?

Easton LaChapelle 1:35
Yeah. Well, you know, looking back what it gives some context. I grew up in a very small town in Colorado name Minkus, the population was about 1200 people. You know, I was a kid who would run to school and, you know, took it seriously. But I, I always love tinkering and taking things apart. When I was little, I always had a curiosity for how things work and why things work. I would take apart microwaves, toasters appliances, of video games, like VCR, anything get my hands on, and a lot of that had electronics in it. So he sort of realizing that a lot of a lot of what have taken apart had these small black chips that seemed to power the world we know today, these integrated circuits, yeah, and there’s an incredible amount happening there. But I, I was always looking for a way to really understand what was happening beneath that surface. And that’s when I was about 13 and 14, I started to turn to the internet, you know, my school, my graduating class high schools, about 23 students, and how you can imagine there was a lot a lot of limited resources. And so I would run home from school turn to the internet. And the internet provided two main things for me, it provided access to a vast amount of information, I could look at the tutorials and videos and, you know, read blog post and forums, it also provided a way to communicate so I could talk to experts in these fields really understand what was going on within, you know, some of these these engineering disciplines. And at that time, I was looking for a project to dive into to really understand or grasping a lot of these I love I love tinkering to take things apart. But now I was looking for a way to combine that into one and and start creating. And after a couple months of researching, I decided to make a robotic can controlled by a wireless control glove. Essentially, this is a robotic hand that when you move your hand, I wouldn’t copy and mimic your motions so that you as you can imagine that software

Mark Rushton 3:19
A much easier project to start with

Easton LaChapelle 3:21
Well it was a little far fetched, I mean, this is when I was 14, I knew nothing about engineering, you know, the softer electronics and mechanics, you know, just building a robotic hand is a challenge in itself. But luckily, you know, I was, I was motivated, this was something I, I didn’t think about a project it was it was kind of out of curiosity and boredom running home from school and green and

Mark Rushton 3:41
So there was nothing there major thing I want to do, like, you didn’t see something, there was no, it had, how did you decide on that?

Easton LaChapelle 3:49
I don’t know. And I actually got asked that question quite a bit. Like, why why robotic hand? And I think for me, it I think, I think was a couple things It was very open ended. It was I could start very simply, it encompassed of, you know, a lot of different disciplines of engineering. And it was it was something I could relate to, it was something it was interactive, it was fun, you know, a lot of these other projects this some fun to do, but you know, what happens when you get when you when you complete it, you know, where’s What do you already go from there.

And so I saw a lot of different ways I could, you know, just the, the robotic hand alone new actuators, the softer behind the control systems, he does a lot there. And that’s when I started to start creating, I used Legos as plastic supports fishing line as the tendons, electrical tubing as the fingers, small servo motors from RC airplanes, and piece together robotic hand. And it took took a couple months of trial and error. And it was an evolution. You know, I actually member you know, I grew up in a very small house. And so I was, you know, tinkering on the, on the living room table, and started turning my bedroom into a lab and staying up very late, and started to learn, you know, software and Arduino and turning to the open source community, and kind of just found a passion and love to create.

So it was, it was something I, you know, run home from school and start working on well into the night and it started really transforming, you know, something that was was interesting, I think back is a, it wasn’t easy, there was a lot of trial and error and failure. And that actually, I owe a lot that, you know, a good example, I used XP radios, and I broke those very, very fast it was, it was, it was hard to grasp that. But actually, by breaking them, I understood exactly what was going on, and how to fix that, which made me learn kind of forced me to learn all the ins and outs and how to how they actually work on a system level and how to incorporate that better.

Mark Rushton 5:41
Yeah, I think that’s where I went wrong. So Id take stuff apart, and then not be able to put them back together again,

Easton LaChapelle 5:47
It’s yeah, quite the skill to have.

Mark Rushton 5:51
Awesome. And so when, when did you first come across 3d printing? Was that just something you’ve you found on the internet, and

Easton LaChapelle 5:58
yeah, so, you know, looking back, this was when I was 14. So this is partly back in 2011, 2012. And this is when 3d printing was just starting to hit the consumer market. This was maker by industries, you know, the original cupcakes made out of laser cut wood, you know, the really, really interesting cool printers and, you know, very maker, you know, level. And this was when it was just trying to get to the consumer market. This was I just completed the first robotic hand I plugged it in, I saw it working, you know, it was amazing. And it totally motivated me to take it to the next level, you know, what if I added an opposable thumb or individual finger joints, made it look more human like, and then add a level of functionality on top of that, you know, there was, it was, it was excited me there’s a lot to, to evolve.

And, and it was, it was obvious next step was to go beyond these electrical tubing, you know, pieces and, and fishing line and to evolve into a more custom kind of kind of version and design of this. And so this is when 3d printing started to really come to the picture. I started teaching myself CAD, and actually, at the time I was I was into a lot of video making, and the Adobe After Effects, and that’s why so I get into motion tracking. And that was kind of my intro into thinking about 3d and very, very simple 3d modeling.

And so it was started to kind of get my mindset and the world of designing a, you know, a fingertip and you know, how to how the joints can interact. That was a really cool part, you know, actually designing something in 3d. And then, you know, at the time you had never 3d printed anything. So, actually being able to think like, I can design something that can be physical and that I can truly custom and that really changed my thought process of creating.

The problem was, I didn’t have a 3d printer maker bought was still kind of in its infancy so that it wasn’t, there wasn’t it wasn’t widely available, I can go to my library, you know, there was no like Shapeways or, you know, contract manufacturers like that. There were some high end contract manufacturers. I remember saying my design out to a couple of them in Colorado is getting quotes upwards of about $500 to print this robotic and and that’s was that was too expensive for me. I had either money from mowing lawns over the summer, and that was too much.

Mark Rushton 8:05
Its a lot of lawns.

Easton LaChapelle 8:06
Yeah, yeah. So I get a little creative. And it actually comes back to the internet and utilizing social media. I actually had a friend who was electrical engineer working at makerbot industries. He was, he’s been helping me with some software here and there and kind of helping me understand it all. And he was able to throw it on the printer one night, and I had pay for shipping. So it’s kind of utilizing the internet and, and kind of the crowd and that sense,

Mark Rushton 8:29
Thats awesome.

Easton LaChapelle 8:29
So that that changed everything. I remember the moment very clearly when I open up that box for the first time and saw something I designed actually physically in front of me. And that was that changed a lot for me.

Mark Rushton 8:41
Yeah, that and then then, at some point, did you did you obtain your own 3d printer? Or do you build your own?

Easton LaChapelle 8:48
Yeah, so this was I got my first 3d printer for my 16th birthday, it was from a Kickstarter project from a company called printerbot,

Mark Rushton 8:55
okay.

Easton LaChapelle 8:55
And it’s, it’s, again, it was all laser cut wood, it was, you know, kind of, first of a kind from, you know, Kickstarter, you know, those were kind of the, the gen 1, you know, prototypes and everything like that. And, but that, that changed everything. For me, that was, that was something that I had running 24 seven in my bedroom. And it really changed the whole the whole process behind it. So I went from this 3d printed hand to full robotic arm started working with other motors, and pretty much growing every aspect of the project. So software is getting more intensive electronics, looking at the power systems, the sensors, and that’s when I started getting into new control systems as well. So I really enjoyed the the concept and implementation of tell robotics.

So being able to capture human like motion, and, you know, the gloves and other sensors on your arm. And that’s actually at the time this was when a lot of media attention was starting to pick up on about what I was doing with I was featured in Popular Mechanics magazine when I was 15 with with some of these these initial designs and started to, you know, kind of get out certain interviews and science fair. And that started to evolve into other other publications and, and media opportunities. And I was featured in popular science in 2013. And the, the robot team at NASA actually saw the article and reached out to me through email and said, you know, we love what you’re doing, you want to come down and do an internship at john Space Center, and we’re going to roll it out project, which was really centered around teller robotics. So that was, that was that was a pretty cool little treat along the way.

Mark Rushton 10:27
So what strikes me about your story is there’s, there’s so many barriers that would have stopped a lot of people.

Easton LaChapelle 10:33
Yeah,

Mark Rushton 10:34
from doing that. And it it just seems you found a way around it. And

Easton LaChapelle 10:39
yeah,

Mark Rushton 10:39
it’s really like, it’s a truly inspirational kind of message. Because Firstly, you didn’t know anything about robotic arms yet, but you decided to tackle it anyway. And then you as you said, 3d printing parts was too expensive. But again, just found your way around it.

Easton LaChapelle 10:57
Right. Exactly. And I think I think there was a level of, of me being naive or not, like, you know, like, I, when I remember growing up and thinking about, you know, like, people who make robots and how, like, how amazing that is, and how cool that is, but it always felt so distant to me that, you know, how do you, you know, that’s just, probably only a couple people do that in, how do you actually make money in that world. And, and it was kind of a goal of mine to, to get into that world. But it seemed it seemed so far away, but then, you know, all these opportunities, and, you know, I didn’t look at it as, as barriers. I don’t think it was just like, Oh, just another challenge, just to just to figure out and, and, you know, that that, for me, seemed fun.

Mark Rushton 11:37
Yeah, that’s such a good mindset to have the, can you just see it as a challenge? Yeah, that’s, that’s, that’s awesome. So that you say, there was nothing that really kind of inspired you? Or, or is this something in the kind of engineering mating kind of world that is truly inspirational, that perhaps, where you see yourself in a few years time, maybe?

Easton LaChapelle 11:59
yeah, you know, I love the, I love the practice and an implementation and really the process of turning ideas into reality. That’s a, it’s a very exciting process of, you know, going through the napkin sketch, and then converting that into 3d models, you know, refining and iterating, and then being able to produce that physically and implement that into a system. And that’s a really exciting piece for me is, is really incorporating a lot of that I also really like the system level of it all, it’s not only just mechanics, it’s really looking does I need a full system. And that’s, that’s something I think I really enjoyed. I think, if I had, you know, their skill sets, if I was really strong, and mechanical, you know, probably wouldn’t have done what I what I’ve done, and it was, it was exploring all these different disciplines equally. And if one lacked, then it would completely change the full project and product.

So for me, it was just exploring the unknown, you know, learning new things. And for me, being able to have find these resources through the internet, I could learn at a at a rapid pace and my own pace and through my own learning styles, and I could talk and iterate extremely fast and, you know, print and work on new code. And, you know, as the consumer electronics get better, and, you know, adding wireless radios there was this the world that was just at my fingertips that side of me, maybe, maybe you want to do something about it

Mark Rushton 13:24
Wow, so and and now, obviously, we should talk about your company.

Easton LaChapelle 13:28
Yeah, yeah.

Mark Rushton 13:29
Unlimited tomorrow. Tell us how you got got into that. And

Easton LaChapelle 13:33
yeah, so, you know, everything that we talked about up to now, this has been kind of before a really special event that happened to me and that that that event really motivated me to take us to the next level. This was in 2013 at the state science fair. In Colorado. There was it was during public viewing, I brought this robotic arm this for robotic arm that could toss the ball to you shake someone’s hand it could interact with people, my daughter together this giant steel skeleton to hold this this arm and it was it was pretty amazing.

But I met a small girl that had an $80,000 prosthetic limb that was simpler than what I created. And for me, it was an iPhone it was you know, there’s kids and adults running all over the place I noticed this one little girl she’s she’s looking at the details more than anybody she was moving the fingers and it caught my eye and I realized that she was missing right arm and it was wearing a prosthetic device. It was an iPhone this was this was a you know, very simple human like claw prosthetic device with one motion one sensor next to this robotic arm I made had individual finger motion, you know, better control systems that was, you know, as human like, and it surprised me and sort of talk to your parents more about this and understand the process, you know, what, how much time it takes the the cost of it, and it really opened my eyes especially for children missing a limb

I found out that it had taken months to create, it’s about $80,000 and and there’s a psychological aspect of you know, if this little girl gets bullied at school she she really needs and wants prosthetic him to make her feel kind of fit in. And that that to me just was that was the moment that I realized that this is bigger than me. And I saw a lot of opportunity to take what I was doing front of my bedroom and impact people’s lives around the world as this girl is not the only one and.

Pretty much right after that moment. I I remember Actually, this was about eight hours north of where I lived. And on the whole car ride back. I started working on new designs, I was pretty much drawing and sketching the whole time. And right when I got back, you know, one of the CAD and started designing up this this brand new prosthetic limb essentially so completely 3d printed custom gearboxes. very organic human like shapes, better mechanics functionality, the control system as well. And you when you think about a prosthetic it’s really a self contained robotic hand or arm or leg and a very intuitive control system behind it’s just kind of two pieces to the puzzle and essentially emerging man and machine.

And so that’s a that’s a difficult task. Even just one of those is pretty difficult with creating a human like self contained robotic hand that ways within that range and looks and has the feel and and dexterity and and functionality behind that. So I started looking into brainwave headsets, and how do we how do we really turn either these muscle movements or thoughts or, you know, certain triggers and two movements make this as intuitive as possible.

And, and that’s really where the kind of the development process started to really take off, you know, actually being able to kind of learned the 3d printing process of the modeling process that are process at this time. My bedroom, I was not a bedroom, it was a lab with a button the corner and and I was just, you know, kind of enthralled and encapsulated with everything I was doing. And yeah, it was exciting. And so this this is, again is where media attention started to really take off with certain magazines, publications, this project I won second place in the world and engineering at the International Science Fair, which put me on a lot of people’s radar. And that’s when I was invited to the White House for the how science fair in 2013 were present. Obama shook hands with with this arm. Yeah. And it was really amazing moment. That was that was it was a special Yeah, yes.

Mark Rushton 17:09
I hope he shook your hand as well not just that.

Easton LaChapelle 17:13
Yeah hahaha

Mark Rushton 17:13
Thats good.

Easton LaChapelle 17:14
Yeah, I mean, for me, it was, it was special, you know, just coming from such a small town and being able to, you know, be at that level, I thought that was that was impossible. And that was, you know, it excited me as, you know, people like that are, are, you know, showcasing innovation and, and young people creating and that he needs to happen a lot more within the stem and steam world. And, you know, that was from you, I saw it, I thought it was so far out there. And it’s like, thinking that, like, people can’t actually make robots for living like that so far out there. But these kind of moments happened where it really made a tangible and, and kind of cut showed what what really happened in here world,

I was invited to give a TEDx talk in Denver, where I start talking about my creation and going from my bedroom and learn from the internet. And that’s actually how one of my main investors Tony Robbins, who’s an amazing motivational speaker and life coach, he, he saw that and reached out to me, he said, I have helped people around the world psychologically, and I love to take that help you take that a step further and help physically.

And so this was when I was just about to graduate high school, I was 17 years old, just about to turn 18 and, and decided to, to go into this full force. So you know, I had all this money behind what I was doing, the designs were making huge leaps. And it’s starting to, you know, get to the point where we can actually work with with amputees and start testing these in person. And it was, it was a pretty obvious choice for me to actually take that to the next level and start a company.

So February of 2014, Unlimited Tomorrow was founded. So Tony Robbins help provide some startup capital and mentorship and guidance and go from a bedroom to garage and started building a team and resources, you know, getting good 3d printers. And it’s been amazing. So this was that that was almost four years ago, when the company was founded. And between now and then a lot of this has been slim r&d really validating, proving out this technology, and really creating a business model and structure to support that,

You know, I look at this as we’re not only helping a couple, you know, little, little girls, or a couple people around the world, you know, we’re hoping we’re hoping over 40 million people globally. And there, this is a big problem. And you know, that 40 million, only 5% of them have access to prosthetic device. And this is a problem that not a lot of people know, like, everybody’s seen, or, you know, as, you know, that up at a grocery store has seen someone, you know, missing a limb with a, with a product device, but never, they never realized how, how, how big a problem is.

And there’s a lot of problems, not only just accessibility, but the cost. And as you can imagine, for a child, you know, if you’re missing a limb, those psychological aspects of missing a limb and not having a prosthetic device. And, you know, if you look at it, it’s pretty much between up, you know, 10 to $80,000 pair of shoes, you know, every 12 to 14 months. Yeah, and that’s, that, to me, is not acceptable. And so, you know, using new technologies, like 3d printing, 3d scanning AI, to augment and automate this process really, is really what this market needs. And it all comes back to the user and the people who can benefit from this. And I think that they’ve been neglected over the last, you know, 30 years,

It’s been, you know, three big global companies that run the industry, there’s been very little innovation. And it’s really, there’s a, there’s a lot to that problem. But it’s really building new technology up creating a business model that’s scalable. So we can, we can solve this problem at a global level. And that’s really where we’re all right now, we started working with with a number of people this year, we’re working with 100 amputees around the world, a lot of children and adults to be able to continue validating testing this technology rolling out a new a new model within prosthetic devices, where we actually deploy 3d scanners to the amputee in the comfort of their own home.

So a family member friend scans the arm that they’re missing and opposite full arm if they have one. And we use that data to extract measurements and to make them your image. So if we’re using Solidworks, and a lot of the kind of our custom design workflow, we input these measurements into kind of a master model that then we can make a customized device within a matter of seconds for each person. So then we deploy that to a fleet of 3d printers that can print and a very strong material, but also in color, so much skin tone, and then we assemble it and ship it back to the person.

Mark Rushton 21:20
Wow, that must be incredible. When you see someone wearing when your device

Easton LaChapelle 21:25
Absolutely, yeah, and it’s, you know, it’s, it’s, it’s so amazing. It’s actually a couple weeks ago, we were working with with it with a young girl. And there’s so many little things like when she put on the device for the first time she does, that was the first time she was able to roll down both of her long sleeves, like, she’s, has long sleeve shirts and shes never been able to roll down both sleeves that was like one of those little things, we never even thought about that. And there’s a level of like, deep personal impact. And, you know, for me, it involves a lot of my passions. And those patches have been evolving, you know, it’s still turning ideas to reality, you know, pushing technology to the max, you know, using using new manufacturing methods to solve big problems at a global level. But then really being able to impact people’s lives at a at a deep level.

And, and we always, you know, one of the first things that we ask is, well, what’s something that you that you can’t do that you really want to do? And it could be holding a camera or, you know, going kayaking. And, you know, there’s just certain things like that, that you know, the technology or without missing an arm they’ve never been able to do, that’s when you’re in a really special.

We actually have a tagline where we create these, “We create devices so tenacious that people wear them”. And that’s something that we, we really tailor and make very unique.

We’ve also fit a tremendous amount of technology into this. And really, it comes back to the user experience, you know, we have fingernails for the first time that someone can paint, which is a very kind of obvious but overlooked feature and a lot of other devices. And so that’s something that we really, you know, we really want to, you know, put a kind of as a top priority, we have wireless charging, so there’s no connectors, you just put it on a base and overnight and it’s charged right up, we have a battery life that last three to four days, which is better than any other device.

Mark Rushton 23:05
Yeah, yeah, the most smart watches.

Easton LaChapelle 23:07
Yeah, yeah, exactly. And, and all this comes back to really creating the product from the ground up. And so almost everything that we do is custom made. So there’s no off the shelf components, or pre-designed systems that we implement, which have a lot of these inefficiencies. And a lot of the problems of current devices, so everything’s really custom and built around the application,

You know, we have, we have force feedback. So someone actually has a sense of touch when they pick up an egg. And we’ve been pioneering new biometric sensors to read muscles at high resolution, and, and get a world of data that we we get so much data, we actually have to implement pattern recognition and, and machine learning and deep learning to actually decode that and convert that into something meaningful for the person. So certain grips.

And so creating these full feedback loops for the users mind. And so we’re, we’re getting into a really amazing side of this, where there’s a lot of data that can really change the user experience from them better and make it tailored very unique to them, that actually functions to the brain as if it’s if it’s a real hand, and we’re finding that that reduces learning time tremendously within the first 10 minutes of Momo, who’s one of the first recipients of device you can actually see the moment where her bring clicked and she started focused on moving the hand versus moving her muscles and that’s a really special moment the witness

Mark Rushton 24:23
Yeah, I get I guess, in a way you’re trying to catch up over thousands of years of evolution and a few years of starting the company.

Easton LaChapelle 24:31
Yeah, absolutely. It’s it’s tricky. And, you know, a lot of these technologies, you know, as you can imagine, can be applied in a lot of other areas. And you know, the really the big the big message of Unlimited Tomorrow is augmenting the human body. So we’re starting with upper extremity prosthetic limbs, looking at lower extremity prosthetic limbs, you know, this business model and structure that we’re creating, we can accommodate a lot of these new products and really solve solve these problems at a large scale. Also looking at mobility and exoskeletons, and how we can use to new technology and motors and battery systems and things really systems that we’re creating to help benefit someone’s life and make them even more independent or mobile or, you know, psychologically, you know, benefit from going to school not getting bullied or something like that. And the level of functionality along the way,

Mark Rushton 25:20
this incredible or the barriers you’ve overcome, like being being a startup, one of the challenges is always kind of funding. And you said you met the right people at the right times. What what’s the plan for kind of continuing working with these hundred amputees?

Easton LaChapelle 25:34
Yeah, well, so earlier this year, we actually turn to to a kind of a, an interesting way to raise money. And that’s really setting the bar for us. So you know, at Unlimimited Tomorrow, we help people and very deep personal ways. And so we felt it was very natural to turn to the crowd. And so there’s, there’s lots of ways that we can utilize crowd and crowdsourcing and crowdfunding and we chose to go through financial round through equity crowdfunding.

So we went through micro ventures and Indiegogo, and we actually broke records, we raised about $1.6 million in 30 days through crowdfunding, so over 1200 investors and it was really good fit for that. And we really want to utilize that the crowd as you know, we’re, we want to turn to the people to help people. And so later this year, we’re creating another Indiegogo campaign, I’d raise money so we can donate the next 100 units to people around the world to help continue testing and validating this and really tough take this to market and, and bring this to life.

Mark Rushton 26:32
Thats awesome that’s such a great cause.

Easton LaChapelle 26:34
Yeah,

Mark Rushton 26:35
yeah. So yeah, check out check out unlimited tomorrow on an Indiegogo (https://igg.me/at/100tomorrows). So what’s next? See you kind of expanding to other body parts for people? What have you thought any further than that? Or?

Easton LaChapelle 26:49
Well, yeah, there’s, there’s a lot in the works. You know, just just recently we moved to New York to be able to expand a facility and getting some really amazing support. We have some amazing enterprises, partnerships, you know, with Dassault and some, some other large companies to help us find the best technology and you know, the product perspective, we can make a better product faster and better, and also help bring it around the world. So really, we want to master the upper extremity limbs, we want to cater to below the elbow, above the elbow. And we’ve been changing designs to really cater to, to the mass around that.

So you know, part of this also comes back to solve this global problem, it really comes down to relationships. So looking at partnering with foundations and nonprofits to help take this around the world, the people who really need it, and the people who need the most are the people who don’t have the money or that’s not accessible to we really want to solve that. Yeah, so we’re really focused on that, you know, as you can imagine, this technology is very cross platform so that’s something we’re always working on is developing technology that we can use and many other ways and and you know, looking at other products in the future and really building the infrastructure as well so we have a facility amazing r&d facility production facility that we can we can actually practically make these and scale to very large amounts and that’s sometimes the some of the biggest hurdles along the way so we have with amazing infrastructure that allows us to do some amazing things right now.

Mark Rushton 28:13
Great well keep up the good work is all I can say

Easton LaChapelle 28:17
thank you. well I feel like I’m just getting started in a lot of ways because you know, we I feel like we are we are still young company and we’re we’re making things happen

Mark Rushton 28:26
yeah, that’s incredible. You go awesome facility here in New York and I’m expecting even bigger things to come so thanks for your time.

Easton LaChapelle 28:35
Yeah thank you

Mark Rushton 28:35
And inviting me in and you know all the best

Easton LaChapelle 28:39
Absolutely

Mark Rushton 28:39
all right thanks Easton.

Cliff 28:42
Thanks for listening today and remember if you’re interested in learning more about Easton and unlimited tomorrow look them up online at www.unlimitedtomorrow.com Also if you want to learn more about how you can 3d print better using solid works started  SOLIDWORKS.com/AM that’s a am for additive manufacturing. We will be back again soon with more great born design podcast stories at SOLIDWORKS.com/podcast or wherever podcasts are readily available. Until then, keep on innovating.

I really hope that what you heard today has inspired you. If you did enjoy it, head on over to iTunes and search for the born to design podcast and please leave a five star review so that this podcast will be recommended to more people. This helps us expand the board design community. Thank you.

 

Cliff Medling

Cliff Medling is a Senior Marketing Manager at SolidWorks and the host for the Born to Design Podcast.