CRANBURY: Stroller invention doesn’t take a back seat with its innovation

By Amy Batista, Special Writer
MONROE – A local resident has created the Buddysitter Deployable Chair, an adult seating attachment for strollers, and is launching a Kickstarter campaign to raise production and marketing funds.
It is the first time Derek Moody has invented something. He said that he found with his own children at the school bus stop, amusement park, shopping mall or park in the neighborhood, there isn’t always a convenient or a sanitary place to sit.
“Our option is to strap a chair to ourselves, stand or find a place on the curb or ground,” he said. “I knew there had to be a better way.”
He said that The Buddysitter Deployable Chair provides seating in limited or non-existent locations.
“The unit swivels from the side or rear of the stroller and allows users to stop and rest anywhere without having to carry a bulky or heavy chair,” he said. “It provides convenient sanitary seating that can be collapsed and swiveled back into the stroller body easily and works with almost every model and make of stroller. With The Buddysitter, adults do not need to sit on the ground or search for seating and can stay close to their children in any location, regardless of the availability of separate seating.”
He said that one time while waiting at the school bus stop with his son, one of the mothers also waiting was pregnant.
“It was winter and she was sitting on the cold sidewalk as she needed a place to sit down,” she said. “I asked her why she didn’t bring along one of those folding chairs that she can carry over her shoulder and her reply was that it was too much of a hassle.”
Mr. Moody noticed others waiting there with strollers, as well as gathering among other parents as they strolled through the neighborhood, only to sit on the ground, driveway or sidewalk as they talked.
“I started thinking, what could be easy to deploy and convenient enough that they wouldn’t notice it there or be a hassle to use?” he said.
He said a few months went by before he got involved in creating it about three and a half years ago.
“I was outside in my yard playing with my son, my neighbor was outside and other mothers or caregivers stopped by her house while pushing strollers,” he said. “They didn’t go inside and were outside long enough to sit on the driveway or on the ground.”
The idea just hit him.
“What if there was a way to attach a chair to a stroller that you didn’t have to remove unless you desired to? Even more important, how would it be fashionable and convenient?” he said.
Mr. Moody said patents take a while to get, and there is a tremendous amount of research and development as well.
“You first have to do your research to see if anyone else had the idea,” he said. “There’s ways of doing that before having an actual patent search done such as internet or visiting stores that may carry something like it.”
He said that once he began that stage he began contacting manufacturers to see who would be interested in building a prototype.
“This where I learned that what you see on TV isn’t exactly reality,” he said. “We’re geared to think that if you have a great idea someone will want to take and run with it. But I’ve found that it’s not necessarily the case no matter how well your product may sell.”
For one thing, manufacturers like to deal with their existing companies unless one can prove to have the necessary funding.
“They’re cautious because they run into a lot of people who don’t realize the hundreds of thousands of dollars it’s going to cost to bring to production,” he said. “I was fortunate enough to find a designer who was quite impressed with the idea and really helped me out a lot. He has a lot of experience regarding the manufacturing process and has been a great help in this regard.”
He said he has also been issued a patent for a caregiver to use The Buddysitter Deployable Chair he developed for wheelchairs, motorized wheelchairs, scooters, etc.
“I was at a mall,” he said. “A mother had a disabled child in a wheelchair. The mother was standing next to her feeding her outside. I figured this too would’ve been the perfect opportunity for the caregiver to use The Buddysitter Deployable Chair I developed,” he said. “So I wound up being issued a patent for that as well.”
He said there were a lot of sleepless nights during the process.
“I’m married again as of two and a half years ago but prior to that I was a full time single dad of four for quite some time,” he said. “Most of my nights were spent building out of household materials until three in the morning only to get up at 6 a.m. to get my kids off to school.”
Mr. Moody is an operations manager for SOS Security LLC and he has been an EMT for the Cranbury First Aid Squad for about 24 years, so he is quite busy.
“I’m not very artistic, so drawings were pretty much out of question” he said. “I’m more a hands on type of person, so I think of what may work and just start building from there.
He said that his first prototype consisted of a pizza box, PVC pipe, construction paper and some metal outlet boxes.
Mr. Moody said that the responses were overwhelmingly positive to the idea.
“The idea was kept secret for so long due to patents and other reasons but in the short time the reactions were very inspiring,” he said. “We’re currently running a Kickstarter campaign.”
Kickstarter is a platform used where inventors can bring their ideas to life to make a difference, he added.
To pledge and help get the product into production, visit www..kickstarter.com/projects/1545761233/thebuddysitter. Pledge levels start at $1 and got to $350 with rewards including t-shirts, water bottles and The Buddysitter Deployable Chairs.
“I need to raise about $250,000 dollars and that’s just to get started,” he said. “The research, development, tooling and molding process is very expensive. We have everything set and ready to go once enough money is raised.”
He said how much the product is going to cost will be determined by whoever decides to carry the product.
“I thought someone may want to license, do continued research and development then manufacture themselves,” he said. “Well, this was something else I come to learn. Most companies want products complete and ready to go on the shelves. They just don’t have the resources to provide the time involved that it takes.”
For additional information on product, visit www.thebuddysitter.com as well as www.facebook.com/Thebuddysitter-1128636647176917/?ref=hl, https://twitter.com/ https://www.instagram.com/thebuddysitter/.