Atrificial limbs seem to be either facsimiles of genuine limbs (to varying degrees of 'realness') or stripped down carbon fibre and steel tubes. Mine is one of the latter and leaves plenty of room to keep things without exceeding the profile of a realisitic leg.
The Utility Limb would include mounting points for useful everyday items such as a mini-Maglite or similar, your car keys, a small swiss army knife and all the other impedimentia that clutters one's pockets. The hollow core of a shin in a prosthetic lower limb could be used for storing coins. Mine is of sufficient internal diameter to accept UK 1 pound coins but the only way to retrieve them is to remove the leg and invert it. Having a similar slot at the bottom would solve this. Different diameter shins would be produced for different markets.
Of course anything sharp or potentially dangerous would have to be removed before trying to board an aircraft or risk having one's leg confiscated.-- oneoffdave, Dec 19 2002 (?) Pimp my Prothesis http://www.channel4...programmes.html#carMen in White add Technology to a limb [oneoffdave, Oct 09 2006] Thumb Drive http://www.visordow...usb-drive/6555.htmlA biker puts a USB drive in a prosthetic finger [oneoffdave, Sep 06 2011] "More than the Sum of his Parts" http://www.lightspe...e-sum-of-his-parts/Original title: "Tom Swift and his Electric Penis" [mouseposture, Sep 07 2011] A Swiss Army Arm?-- angel, Dec 19 2002 This is something of a staple of cyberpunk fiction (the example which immediately comes to mind for me is Robocop's holster), but I like this idea anyway. I'm all for as much utility as people are willing to live with. (+)-- Pharaoh Mobius, Dec 19 2002 I wasn't thinking of anything partularly high tech [Pharaoh]. Just some handy clips built in. Providing power to anything would dramatically increase the weight of the limb. Not too bad for legs but tougher with arms.-- oneoffdave, Dec 19 2002 Mmph, I thought this was going to be like in "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" how the main character had like 7 different arms that did different tasks. He was an engineer/computer tech. And had an arm for delicate work, a dress arm, an ass-beating arm, etc. + either way. I always thought so much more could be done with prosthetics.-- notme, Dec 19 2002 [oneoffdave]- I didn't think you were proposing powered attachments, it's just that those are the sorts of things that come out of cyberpunk fiction. The limb would have to be powered in the first place in order to support that sort of weight, or, conversely one could carry the power plant on a belt holster of some sort. But how convenient would it be to lug around a heavy power cell on your hip, particularly when you're getting around on a prosthetic leg in the first place? Hmmm. Ah well, it's not germaine to your idea, anyway.-- Pharaoh Mobius, Dec 19 2002 [bliss] as the cosmesis is just a sleeve of silicone, a variety of substitute covers would be easily bakable. Changing the shape of the foot would present more problems as it could radically affect one's gait but anything that was a similar shape would work.-- oneoffdave, Dec 19 2002 [bliss] What a great foot. I really like the idea of having one of those. The tracks I'd leave in mud or snow would be great.-- oneoffdave, Dec 20 2002 I had thought of "oneoff" part of [...dave]'s user name in the sense of prototype or custom built (as opposed to high volume production). Now I see that it has a second meaning. Clever, [dave].-- half, Dec 20 2002 I always thought his name was from a hive conglomerate of borg-daves that all looked alike and referred to themselves in the singular.-- RayfordSteele, Dec 20 2002 The nick came about from the first thing my cousin said when she saw me after the surgery 'Now you really are a one off!' The name stuck and all the family refer to me that way-- oneoffdave, Dec 23 2002 Believe it or not, this is BAKED! I know a guy who used to build racing wheelchairs, who had a friend that lost an arm in a motorcycle accident. Larry (my friend) modified one of his pal's new prosthesic bases to hold all his small paperhanging tools: straightedge on one side, wide wiping brush on the other, a clip to hold his razor knife, etc. I know it's wierd and it sounds like BS - I swear it was the funniest thing I ever heard when Larry shared it with me, but he showed me pictures - but his pal had suddenly become the fastest paperhanger around: he never had to put his tools down!-- elhigh, Jun 23 2005 The idea has spread to Channel 4. Their programme had the 'scientists' 'pimping' someone's prosthesis (their words) [link].-- oneoffdave, Oct 09 2006 random, halfbakery