CALGARY — There are how-to videos for just about anything on YouTube, and for Reid Robinson, the ones on how to weld aluminum got him where he is today.

“It’s not an easy metal to weld,” he said as he strapped what looked like a bionic brace to his right leg for a demonstration.

After a 2015 car crash left him with shattered bones in his lower leg, and nearly two years spent getting around on traditional crutches, Robinson was driven to build a better crutch.

The Calgary inventor said he lost control on an icy road and wrapped his car around a tree. An officer who happened upon the scene later told Robinson he didn’t expect to find anyone alive.

“Following that accident, I had 13 surgeries,” he said. “I tried every crutch alternative — they all were limiting in their own way.”

It was while recovering in bed after his 10th surgery that he first sketched out his idea for a hands-free crutch.

In three weeks, with a used welder bought off Kijiji, cannibalized crutches and cutting boards from Ikea, Robinson built his first prototype of what would later be dubbed Xleg.

The hinged brace attaches to a person’s thigh and lower leg with Velcro straps. When adjusted properly, it transfers weight away from the foot to the flesh on a person’s thigh, while allowing them to maintain balance with their toes.

He described it as an exoskeleton for the leg. A user can sit, stand, walk, and even go up stairs with the Xleg.

The product launched on Kickstarter this week, and Robinson hopes to raise $50,000 to take it from his current prototype to market.

On Kickstarter, users can purchase an Xleg for themselves for $500, or they can buy them in bundles. The suggested retail price is estimated to be $900.

David Bocking, technology development adviser with Alberta Innovates, remembers well the first time Robinson came to his office.

“He walked around in the meeting room for two hours with this on,” said Bocking.

Despite the rough look of the initial prototype, he saw the value potential in a new type of crutch.

“I thought this guy, he’s probably one of the most purpose-driven entrepreneurs I’ve met,” said Bocking. “His head is down and he wants to solve this problem for people in the same situation. He’s not just doing this to get rich.”

Alberta Innovates was able to mentor Robinson, getting him in touch with an engineering firm that could build a better prototype, and connecting him with medical experts who also saw the potential in Xleg.

A computer engineer by trade, Robinson quit his job last October to throw himself into developing the Xleg full-time. He’s filed patents, and he’s cleared a path with both Health Canada and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to sell the Xleg.

“I opened an office and share a wall with the engineering firm I’ve been working with,” said Robinson.

Alberta Innovates provided Robinson with about $120,000 in grants through three programs to make a better prototype. The rest has been his own money — another $200,000 — and sweat equity.

The latest prototype does not look like something that came from Robinson’s garage. The Ikea cutting boards have now been replaced with carbon fibre. The Xleg just needs to be brought to market.

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The Kickstarter has a May 31 deadline and as of Thursday, had raised over $8,000.

Bocking said going the route of Kickstarter is somewhat new for businesses he’s worked with, but he thinks it could work for Robinson in terms of getting the product into the hands — and onto the legs — of people who need it.

“This was a way to get it to the general public with the idea that it would give him a bit more runway to secure that clinical buy-in,” said Bocking.

BT Brodie Thomas is a Calgary-based reporter covering economy, innovation and education. Follow him on Twitter: @metrobrodie

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