Although the jogging stroller is a fixture of suburban life, allowing parents the opportunity to get some exercise while letting their young children a chance for some fresh air, it would seem like the designers of these strollers have never actually gone for a jog. Requiring a runner to hold their hands at fixed positions can be incredibly uncomfortable and disrupts most people’s strides and cadence — so [John] attempted to solve the problem after finding one of these strollers on the secondhand market.
While there are some purpose-built strollers that attempt to address these issues, they can be pricey. Rather than shell out for a top-dollar model, [John] got to work with his 3D printer and created a prototype device that allows him to attach the stroller at his waist while leaving his hands free. There were a few problems to overcome here, the first of which would cause the device to buckle under certain loading situations. This was solved with some small pieces of rope which act as flexible bump stops, keeping the hinge mechanism from binding up. Another needed to be solved with practice, which was that it took some time to be able to steer the stroller without using one’s hands.
As an added bonus, [John] also included a system that tracks the distance the stroller has traveled. Using a hall effect sensor and a magnet attached to the wheel, a small microcontroller is able to quickly calculate distance and display it on a tiny screen mounted near the handlebars. Although smartphones are handy, their GPS systems can be surprisingly inaccurate, so a system like this can be a better indicator since it’s being directly measured. All in all, not a bad few upgrades to a secondhand stroller.
Nothing like breathing tire, brake pad, clutch plate, exhaust, asphalt and whatever other PMx dusts are there on the street. Yummy!
“…if you are keen to breathe, the best plan is to open a window and stick your head in a building.”
– Douglas Adams
The places where he takes his surprisingly dense offspring in the video look pretty clean and nice to me!
The distance meter looks like reinventing a $5 bike computer (nothing wrong with that!)
The VOCs in a building a way higher. Especially when they own a 3d printer. Imagine owning a 3d printer and being afraid to breath the air outside.
okay, I have to ask… why does the stroller needs to be pushed?
A horse is in front of the carriage. A truck is in front of the trailer all for good reasons, why would that be?
Wouldn’t it be easier to pull the stroller? In fact the kid in the stroller will act like a huge bumper in case you ran into an accident, it’s better to pull the stroller, wouldn’t it, it sounds safer. It’s not that you can see the kid anyway no matter if you are pushing or pulling. The only advantage of pushing is that you can see what the kid is throwing out of the stroller (bottle, teddybear, pacifier, wallet). But then again… you’re running, with headphones in doing your thing… then suddenly you step onto a babybottle that’s being tossed out of the stroller, you strain your ankle, fall, drag the stroller with you while you are falling to the ground… this would never have happened pulling.
Is it me or are these strollers just a “cool looking” safety hazard? Cool is meant sarcastic.
I think part of it is psychology, though maybe fair psychology. He wants to see that his kid is ok while using a prototype system. He doesn’t want to run in front and assume everything will be ok if it hits a rock weird or clips the edge of a sidewalk funny when it clips the corner tighter and have the stroller flip. It’s probably a small risk, but with it in front of him he’s just a short reach from grabbing it and can see what the wheels are clearing.
My friend hated jogging strollers but his kid loved going on a ride along when he ran. so he took one of those kid carrier bike trailers and modified it into a jogging rickshaw even added bicycle cable brakes. Im kind of surprised there wasnt one already on the market.
One: you can see if the kid fell or jumped out.
Two: you need a very solid attachment if you’re towing it or it’s going to run into you every time you slow down. People originally started with push strollers because there’s no need for any attachment at all.
Three: when it’s in front, you can see where it is so you don’t kick it or get your feet tangled up in it.
I mean keeping the tiny human safely visibly contained during the exercise is kinda the main feature of such a device. The majority of our senses are focused towards our fronts, so instinctively it’s more comfortable for a parent. Good news is that unless you’ve got a kid whose surprisingly adept (or too large for the stroller), at this age they’re more likely to throw things sideways which means they go wide of your feet anyway. As an added bonus there is actually a version that works well for older kids that are more trustworthy that turn it into a pull rather than push, it’s called a wagon. And I speak from experience that tying a rope around your waist and pulling one is less awful than trying to jog while pulling one but it’s got it’s own set of downsides that revolve around how far you’ve got to have it back to avoid kicking it (your feet tend to reach back further than forward when jogging) and getting run over by it when you stop abruptly. Especially when kid throws something out and you’ve got a full head of steam.
(For once I don’t have to add a disclaimer saying that I’m just a hypothetical running stroller user, I do actually have some direct subject matter expertise :D )
It’s an impressive bit of engineering, i think. If you’re running with a stroller like this, i think anyone would appreciate hands-free. I’m gonna sound a little negative in the rest of this comment but i want to say at the top: whatever you’re doing to try to stay sane while parenting is worth it if it works for you!!
I’m a little nervous about what happens if he falls. Seems like almost any scenario is going to toss the stroller, maybe lever it around the back wheels as a fulcrum. I guess if you do a good job strapping baby in, it’s probably as safe as anything.
My personal taste runs to ‘umbrella’ strollers, the minimal kind that folds up to almost nothing. I’m not running for the sake of running, i’m going somewhere and i’m gonna want to bring baby and stroller inside without taking up a ton of room. But even more than that, i believed in strapping the kid to myself. The “moby wrap” style is suitable for running, if you’re strong…you have to watch your baby to decide for yourself if the jostling is a good idea. When i had two, i would have one on my shoulders and one wrapped to my chest. Speaking of a poor result if you fall :(
Anyways, -1 on the video. I wanted to see the baby, but all i saw was some dude strapped to an empty wheely chair.
New aerogel for cushioning?
https://phys.org/news/2026-04-microporous-aerogel-van-der-waals.html