Fox Chapel dad designs a $35 version of the GoPro, two versions patent-pending

As a Fox Chapel dad, David Rost enjoys nothing more than producing short cell phone videos of his kids engaged in activities they love. The only problem is, like most kids, they are constantly on the move and when they’re hiking, biking or skiing, dad is right along side.

Not wanting to fork out big bucks for a fancy $300 gadget, Rost designed ReadyAction, his own hands-free mount and harness that allows him to take active selfies with his kids. With a successful Kickstarter campaign (he raised $28,000) and six months of sales on Amazon underway, ReadyAction is gaining traction as an inexpensive alternative for taking selfies on the go.

“While the GoPro makes cameras, ours is a case that holds any camera (including iPhones),” Rost explains. “For $35 you can take it anywhere.”

ReadyAction Sport is a simple system using elastic clips and a plastic case that mounts a camera or smartphone on places like a bike or motorcycle handlebars, ski pole or ski helmet. It can be adjusted to take pictures at just about any angle. Race car drivers are using it to capture themselves in action and collect data with the use of an app, he says.

Rost also designed a body harness, ReadyAction Office, for the iPad. While the iPad harness offers hands-free picture taking, Rost admits he came up with the idea so he could attach it to the back of his bike seat and allow his children to watch movies on long bike trips.

Librarians at the Brentwood Library have found it useful in tabulating book returns, he says. It’s a great option for home inspectors and others who need to carry the iPad around and collect information.

An entrepreneur at heart, Rost was a founder of the Carnegie Mellon University spinout Platypus and owns a hardwood lumber company that was started by his grandfather. The molds and platform for the product are made in Turtle Creek, Pa. and the harness is imported from China.

“It’s 60 percent made in Pittsburgh,” he says.

ReadyAction is currently patent pending, which Rost hopes will come through to catapult his company to the next level. But he’s not quitting his day job at the lumber mill just yet.

“Sales are slow but growing,” he adds. “Once the (utility) patent is approved, within nine months we will know if the idea is going to take off.”