Bubblicious: Teen uses BubbleWrap to Enhance the Texture of Prosthetics

Grayson Rosenberg has invented a way new use for Bubble Wrap: a cost effective cosmetic skin covering for prosthetics.

Rosenberger was able to turn a basic artificial leg into a more realistic one using a heat gun to mold Bubble Wrap cushioning around the steel rod of a prosthetic limb to give it muscle-like tone and shape. He said his invention should benefit amputees in Africa who are viewed strangely because they have to "walk around with an open metal rod" as a leg.

I learned two things:
1. There is a BubbleWrap competition for Young Inventors
2. BubbleWrap is trademarked. I think the generic name is "protective packaging".

Naturally, this qualifies as another great Little Device That Could. Rosenberg's background has taken him to missionary trips to Ghana where he gained insight into a way to give amputees some dignity regardless of their country's economic status.

Tags: assistive, competition, design, economics, Rosenberger, Bubble Wrap, prosthetics