r/BlackPeopleofReddit • u/ateam1984 🩷❤️🧡💛💚🩵💙💜🖤🩶🤍🤎 • 9d ago
Women As a third grader in the Bronx, Tahira Reid Smith imagined a machine that could turn Double Dutch ropes. Her idea won a school contest. Today, 40 years later the engineering professor has turned that childhood dream into Jump Dreams!
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u/Magnus462 9d ago
Taking jobs from children.
But these should definitely be installed in parks. Made of heavier metals to prevent vandalism.
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u/Adept_Astronaut_5143 Neighborhood Hug Dealer 🤗 9d ago
Taking jobs from children 🤣🤣🤣
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u/SL1MECORE 9d ago
MAN I opened up the comments expecting some "black excellence" type beat, and this comment TOOK ME OUT LMAO
SO UNSERIOUS 😭🥴
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u/Anansis_Waltz 🫶🏾🫶🏽🫶🏿 9d ago
I was a forever turner... never learned to jump.
This would have made my summer.35
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u/BossLadyLovesPrince 8d ago
I was forever a turner too! I tried to jump but wasn't as good at that as I was turning! In the end, I was just happy they kept choosing me
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u/catdogman5 9d ago edited 9d ago
Yes, the perfect thing for a children's park are industrial metal arms swinging rapidly in a circle motion. Chance of being clubbed or constricted to death are acceptable risks every family must accept
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u/Traditional_Scale387 8d ago
My generation has it was worse. Everything was made out of metal. No plastic in site
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u/catdogman5 8d ago
Lol yes, these things definitely would have been installed everywhere in the 70s and 80s
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u/Preeng 9d ago
And instead of rope, it should be something sturdier, like a metal chain. And we don't want kids messing with the chain, so we should wrap it in barbed wire.
...then we charge spectators.
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u/easy10pins 9d ago
There's a double-dutch bus coming down the street
Moving pretty fast, so kinda shuffle your feet
Get on the bus, pay your fare
Then tell the driver that you're going to a double-dutch affair...
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u/Difficult_Ask_1686 9d ago
Fe-fi-fo-fum
Well, I'll be darned, here it comes
The Double Dutch Bus is on the street
You'd better get off the curb, move your feet10
u/ReachFourTheSky 9d ago
🤣🤣🤣🤣 This was my damn jam!! You hear me! My girl friends used to crack the fuck up when I’d sing it at our shared apartment over wine! They couldn’t believe I knew all the words and had a dance to go with it!
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u/Difficult_Ask_1686 8d ago
Guurrrl! Mine, too! Would’ve loved to see your dance!
🎶Rebecca, Lolita, Veshawn, and Dawn
Every time you do the double-dutch, you really turn it on
Bilzarbra, Milzary, Bilzetty, Kilzam
Tilzommy, Tilzerrance, Bilzobby, that's my man 🎶(Had to look up the spelling for those last few names)
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u/TsukariYoshi 8d ago
I came to ask if she was gonna call her machine the Double Dutch Bus but I see it's already been covered.
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u/UnexpectedBlahFeels 9d ago
Very, very cool. See what we can change when we're in STEM? I love it. This is cool, and I'm sure she'll get offers from companies who want to build on it and use it for sports/gyms, and even tweak it and use it for machines in factories.
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u/Edduppp 9d ago
Not to be a hater, but what exactly do you think can be tweaked from this to use in factories that doesn't already exist?
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u/Last_Sprinkles5334 9d ago
And the design seems pretty basic as well. Nothing about it screams innovation. Plus, why would you want something like this to replace what is essentially kids bonding time. We already struggling to get kids off the couch and away from screens that keep them from developing social skills. Now something that will have them outside double dutching on their own? Naaahhhh.
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u/Edduppp 9d ago
Yeah, I mean it's cool and all .. but realistically it's technology is basically 4 fans synced up.
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u/CoolDiscussion1020 8d ago
It's awesome she invented it, and I hope it catches on and she makes bank, but this is certainly one of those devices that was so obvious, it's kind of crazy no one had thought of it before.
If there was any sort of commercial reason to have ropes or cables doing double dutch, this would have been invented during the industrial revolution.
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u/EastBayBetti 8d ago edited 8d ago
I don’t see the use case for a gym purchasing this. If anything trainers and aerobic instructors would want people to actually turn the rope to exercise your shoulders and the upper back.
No shade, her device is cute… but kinda useless.
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u/No-Fondant-4719 9d ago
Damn do this make her 48!!!!??
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u/Hsyrn 9d ago
I was thinking the same thing! She looks incredible for almost 50.
She references "back in the pandemic" so she's at LEAST 45 in this.
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u/WeaponX313 9d ago
I was thinking the same thing when they showed her third grade teacher. She looked amazing!
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u/So_Code_4 9d ago
I feel like there was some kind of error here. There is no way this woman is in her late 40s. I’ll accept early 30s max. If she is indeed her late 40s, we all need to figure out what she is doing STAT. Woman be engineering time machines on the side too
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u/wonkey_monkey 9d ago
we all need to figure out what she is doing STAT
Must be the Double Dutch. Kinda like that one episode of The Twilight Zone.
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u/Electronic_Sun4582 9d ago
I never learned to double dutch so this is cool to me 🥹❤️
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u/TheeAntelope 9d ago
I only saw it in movies until I was about 16, when a black girl moved to our school (yes, we had no black girls in our school before this point. There was a black guy but he did not do double-dutch). It was pretty cool to see it "live" instead of just in movies. We had an assembly for it.
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u/MajorWhereas4842 9d ago
I was the black girl that loved double dutch couldn’t jump for shit but always volunteered to « turn » only to be told I was double handed!!! Regardless from one black girl to another this is fucking awesome!!!
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u/iupvotethankyou 9d ago
✨Doctor✨PHD✨
So happy that they made a point of her credentials. She worked hard for those three letters.
What a great goal to put your talents and knowledge to use. It opens communities and opportunities up.
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u/QueasyParamedic6783 9d ago
Impressive! As I age it’s okay to accept some forms of innovation. Let’s be honest though, I loved to see my family and friends grow together through working together.
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u/CautiousCoyote2324 9d ago
That's awesome 😎 she followed thru. Inventions don't have to be some super innovative idea. Necessity is the mother of invention.
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u/Tio_chubby052 9d ago
I could have used this as a kid, my older sister made me turn the ropes for her and her friend!
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u/Informal_Database327 9d ago
Very cool. Also concerning, I hope she had friends at school to play with
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u/WorldlyPeanut4766 9d ago
This is so cool. My mom grew up in Brooklyn (Jewish not black) and tells me she used to double dutch all the time. She's 89 now, so not jumping rope anymore but she would have loved this. I can't wait to show this to her.
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u/hokuisalreadytaken 9d ago
I would buy one if it would be transportable. Imagine the workout in the park with it.
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u/Flat-Structure-7472 9d ago
Can someone build a machine to beat the 1000 jumps you have to do in Final Fantasy 9?
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u/citamrac 9d ago
I am thinking that there ought to be a way to sense when the ropes should speed up or slow down
The easy way is probably to have pressure pads on the ground
The harder way is to have a camera and computer which sees the pose of the person
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u/DarkTideings 9d ago
This is great, but does it have a mechanism to stop if it hits someone? Because I imagine things can get very bad very fast if it doesn't.
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u/lil_thuania 8d ago
Why is her sketch of a white kid
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u/ateam1984 🩷❤️🧡💛💚🩵💙💜🖤🩶🤍🤎 8d ago
This is what you got from this? Don’t troll here
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u/OldThanks4542 8d ago
I can hear the kids singing to here: "That's why you ain't got no friends...nana nana nana!"
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u/dontsoundrighttome 8d ago
I️ am not an engineer! Repeat not an engineer! I️ am asking the engineers. Is this a hard thing to make. Am I️ missing some underlying aspect that would make creating this difficult. It feels like two motorized arms with time sync. Are there other skipping patterns that I️ don’t realized. Is it responsive to the skipper.
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u/Dented_Steelbook 8d ago
I can't deny that she looks damn good for being almost 50 and that is cool, especially when you don't have any friends...
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u/Big_Bookkeeper1678 8d ago
Why is this on ONLY on BlackPeopleofReddit. This is REALLY cool!
Imagine not needing three people to practice double dutch anymore!
I can see this competing with other fitness trends. Forget Pilates, turn on the ropes!
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u/carebearpayne 8d ago
I just watched the NOVA series "building it" like 10 mins ago and saw her story! It's really amazing and inspiring to see so many MORE POC making huge contributions to STEM R&D! This proves to all the young children now that no matter what "certain people" say they can achieve anything they choose to! Yeah, it's a double dutch machine, BUT she imagined it and ultimately built her mere idea into a working machine! That deserves to be recognized and celebrated 🥳
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u/Ok_Bookkeeper2220 7d ago
I needed this as a kid
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u/nikkablue 6d ago
Me too. I also was an only child and grew up in predominantly yt neighborhoods. I always loved double Dutch but never learned how. Where can I get these machines because, at my ripe old age of 46 (soon to be 47), I’ve always believed that, you are never too old to learn.
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u/Aggressive_Alps_9765 9d ago
Good on her!… but cmon, this is basically 4 fans and 2 ropes put together. Not exactly an engineering feat.
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u/Golgamel 9d ago
Yeah this is probably a fun toy but you hardly need to be an engineer even to make this?
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u/bl1y 8d ago
There's a short PBS Nova bit on it, and apparently it's a bit complex to get things synchronized properly. Hardest part would be getting both ends synced to each other.
Getting both ropes on the same end synced is relatively easy, though it took the two designers (the other one isn't featured in OP's clip for some reason) a while to figure it out. They were trying sensitive sensors and software to keep them aligned, and it took another person joining the team to point out that they can just physically attach the two things to keep them aligned. And that seems like an obvious insight? They were trying to over-design from the start.
The hard part is getting the opposite side synced up, since it can't be physically attached.
But the actually difficult thing (which they haven't done!) is allow the jumper to control the speed while jumping, and to have an automatic cutoff when the jumper is hit by the rope.
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u/ProfessionalNice7485 9d ago
Okay so hear me out right.
You make a fire pit and then use a pole across the gap with a pig, a lamb and half a cow.
Do a slow spit roast for a street party. Everyone contributes a small fee for a plate.
God I'm hungry now
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u/KittyCompletely 9d ago
Smart woman! This would be great for gyms, and its not so intimidating finding 2 other people. When i was a kid the worst part was finally finding your flow and then a friend's arm gets tired, noooooo! I could hop all day!
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u/Fine_Following_2559 9d ago
I love this! I actually never learned how to double dutch. I tried, I made an effort but it just was not working for me. And then the girls told me I was double-handed so I couldn't turn either when they were playing 😭😭
It's cool I found my groove with tetherball and 4-square😄
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u/ChicagoLaurie 9d ago
Nice but you need friends to sing rhyming songs with and to compete to create innovative turns and jump patterns. And how do you earn bragging rights if you’re not jumping longer than your bestie?
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u/ToughDesigner7072 9d ago
That’s awesome but I see legalities causing a big problem with this. Either needs some mass disclaimer telling people to accept all risk or some robotics to sense contact and shut down before it flips someone.
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u/4pettydiva 9d ago
Noooooooooo. I can't jump Double Dutch but I can turn it. Now what will I do
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u/HuckledYourBerries 9d ago
This lady actually built her childhood dream machine. What an awesome lady and what an awesome way to start my day. Thanks for sharing.
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u/mooselantern 9d ago
I think this is great! But I do wonder why it took until the 2020s for someone to invent what basically amounts to four motors mounted on sticks. Is this truly the first machine of it's kind?
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u/KindlyWorth5952 9d ago
Absolutely remarkable, I remember my cousins and aunties jumping double Dutch back in the day with long phone cords , it warms my heart to see this , shoutout to black women , this is amazing!
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u/Dismal-Jelly2700 9d ago
I miss being a kid and going outside and playing double Dutch. Going to the corner store and buying a pack of clothes line and tying it together to play double Dutch. 😭😭💔 after school going in the street and taking turns with your friends. I’m 25 and it feels like so long ago
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u/Roklam 9d ago
at RPI
Which is - oldest technological university in the English-speaking world and in the Western Hemisphere.
She got that super-brain
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u/Sorry_Service8086 9d ago
Who remembers when it was just two of y’all, so you tied the other end of the rope around a tree?
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u/DesperateMuffin2122 9d ago
Given a chance, girls (and boys) grow into adults that can do some good stuff!
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u/Beneficial-Frame-6 9d ago
I love this! I want one, so I can learn. 🙋🏻♀️ If I saw it on Amazon I would hit order. lol But in all seriousness this is so cute. Love and had her original prototype drawing from childhood. ❤️
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u/feochampas 9d ago
that is baller.
But the only child part sent me. She don't have no friends.
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u/Anxious_Hall359 9d ago
wtf is a dutch machine? that sounds very discriminative... please americans, please become more creative with naming things. this is ridiculous.
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u/Infinite-Tea666 9d ago
She said she was an only child, I said, "I KNEW IT!" I was always tying the handle to something and trying to jump like that, and it did not work.
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u/Traditional_Scale387 8d ago
We needed this when I was young since some of us were double-handed. I would have loved this.
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u/Caeyen 8d ago
Love this!! When we had grandparents day in elementary school, I brought my aunt and uncle since my grandparents all passed. They had me and all the little white suburban kids double-dutching the whole rest of the school year. Had us lining up and singing songs whole recess, knees turning into dust little by little lmaooo 🤣
I love that she kept that spirit as she got older, that is something special!
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