{"id":58153,"date":"2013-07-30T21:13:39","date_gmt":"2013-07-31T03:13:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/the-next-steve-jobs-or-bill-gates\/"},"modified":"2026-03-29T16:07:20","modified_gmt":"2026-03-29T16:07:20","slug":"the-next-steve-jobs-or-bill-gates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/the-next-steve-jobs-or-bill-gates\/","title":{"rendered":"‘The next Steve Jobs or Bill Gates’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"\"
Courtesy Photo\/NASA<br><br>Mancos high school student Easton LaChappelle is welcomed to NASA<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

At 17 years old, Easton LaChappelle has gone places few at his age may ever go.<\/p>\n

Previously featured in Popular Science and Popular Mechanics magazines, the senior-to-be at Mancos High School has created a brain-controlled prosthetic arm for $250. He made all the joints, gears and custom parts needed for the robotic limb from two 3D printers in his bedroom.<\/p>\n

\u201cI look forward to the day when Easton becomes the next Steve Jobs or Bill Gates,\u201d said Dean Jarvis. \u201cHe definitely has that kind of potential.\u201d<\/p>\n

An above-the-knee amputee, Jarvis founded the inaugural Amputee Long Drive Championship held earlier this month at the Tennessee National Golf Club. The event, in part, was created to showcase innovators in the industry, and Jarvis invited LaChappelle to be a featured exhibitor at the introductory event.<\/p>\n

\u201cEaston is one of the most amazing and impressive young men I\u2019ve ever met,\u201d he said via telephone. \u201cIt\u2019s unbelievable that someone his age can be out there on the cutting edge.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jarvis told the Mancos Times that LaChappelle\u2019s brain-controlled device is not only moving the ball forward in the field of prosthesis, but also for those suffering from multiple sclerosis or paralysis who may need help in regaining use of their limbs.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know anyone doing a better job than Easton in helping to change other people\u2019s lives,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In addition to aiding handicapped golfers on the greens, LaChappelle has also been busy this summer in advancing the nation\u2019s space exploration. Through a summer internship at NASA\u2019s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, LaChappelle has been working on mechanical designs for NASA\u2019s Robonaut project. A Robonaut is a dexterous humanoid robot built and designed to help humans work and explore in outer space.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really look up to everyone that works here at NASA, because the end product is literally out of this world,\u201d he said by email. \u201cThese are the best of the best, and they hold the future of space travel.\u201d<\/p>\n

LaChappelle said his interest in robotics was sparked after encountering an expensive single-movement prosthesis worn by a 7-year-old girl at the state science fair.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was my ah-ha moment,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Inspired by a little girl from the science fair, he now has his sights on becoming a 21st century pioneer and entrepreneur.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I\u2019m doing is my passion, and even when I\u2019m done with college I want to continue this,\u201d he said. \u201cI have multiple job offers that would require a degree, but I\u2019m more interested and happier with what I\u2019m doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

A maverick thinker and doer, entrepreneur, innovator and humanitarian, LaChappelle was one of only nine teens from across the state invited in April to be a presenter at TEDxYouth@MileHigh.<\/p>\n

He also showed off his robotic arm, powered by a commercial-grade brain-wave-reading device called the Neurosky, this spring to President Barack Obama.<\/p>\n

A featured exhibitor at the annual White House Science Fair, LaChappelle\u2019s prosthesis is controlled through a sophisticated system of blinks and thoughts. The software is smart enough to learn a user\u2019s daily patterns and make certain movements easier at specific times.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet me just say, in my official capacity as president, this stuff is really cool,\u201d President Obama reportedly said of the science fair participants.<\/p>\n

In addition to the opportunity in Washington, D.C., LaChappelle placed second in the world in engineering at the 2012 International Science Fair. During his tenure as Mancos, school Superintendent Brian Hanson said, no Mancos student has ever received the notoriety that LaChappelle has from a science fair project.<\/p>\n

\u201cEaston is just a phenomenal student,\u201d Hanson said. \u201cWe\u2019re all proud as we can be of him and what he\u2019s been able to accomplish.\u201d<\/p>\n

LaChappelle is the younger of two sons to Patrick and Julia. Neither parent is an engineer, but his mother said her family has roots that trace back to an engineer who served as an aide to Thomas Edison.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve just always been very supportive of our boys, and we tried to teach them if they started something, then finish it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Since LaChappelle started developing robotic arms at age 14, his parents have been there every step of the way watching, and the view has been extraordinary.<\/p>\n

\u201cEaston has been an inspiration to so many, and he continues to keep us in awe,\u201d his mother said. \u201cWe believe he\u2019s destined to do great things.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tinkering with robotics over the last three years, LaChappelle said he has always thought it was cool to make things, and with a youthful outlook on the future, all is possible.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can automate and make anything,\u201d he said. \u201cMy ultimate goal is to help people and change someone\u2019s life. If I am able to do so, to me, that makes my life complete.\u201d<\/p>\n

tbaker@cortezjournal.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LaChappelle is at forefront of innovation<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":58154,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[13,37],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-58153","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-frontpage-lead","tag-mancos-high-school"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58153","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58153"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58153\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":62948,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58153\/revisions\/62948"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58154"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58153"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58153"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58153"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=58153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}