Robert Acosta was tired of seeing his friends fumble around with their video game controllers.

Two of his handicapped friends had control playing certain games because of the button configuration, and he set-out to find a way to solve the problem on this own – grabbing PCV tubing and a saw and coming up with a design on the fly.

Now, Acosta – who has a patent for his “Conconnectfix” idea – is looking for investors as he prepares to take a small, independent company global.

Two rubberized, brass knuckle looking device mounted to the underside of the controller handle help align the fingers in the perfect position – improving reaction speed and making it easier to access buttons that can at times be hard to press.

There’s nothing, Acosta said, out on the market like it today. Three weeks ago he set up a booth at Wizcon in Sacramento and the controller, as a whole, got a ton of comments from gamers who said that they were thrilled at the detail and that they’d pick up a pair when they got back to a computer.

It’s a hustle. A sprint. A racquet. And also an ingenious way to take even a simple idea and make it into something that the world never thought they needed before they had but realized they can’t live without once they pick it up.

“I never thought that I’d be able to put inventor and entrepreneur on my list of things that I’ve done in my lifetime,” Acosta said. “It’s surreal man – kind of like a dream come true. It feels good to know that you came up with something that so many people like.”

So far Acosta is operating pretty bare-bones. His advertising budget is relatively non-existent and he’s relying on word-of-mouth and large events like the Almond Blossom Festival to keep the business afloat.

He makes all the rubberized grips hismelf at a Manteca Machine Shop at Moffat Boulevard. He sells them either in-house or at house fronts or table sales around the community. All he needs is a little bit of exposure.

With as many as 6 billion people in the world that play some sort of video game, Acosta hopes that he can tap into a market with endless potential and be lives that he’ll be able to deliver to a growing number of gamers that could use a little bit of a boost.

“My scores improved by 300 percent when I started using it,” he said. “The problem that I have right now is that I can’t secure funding for a loan, but I’m working to take this thing as far as I possibly can. Do I think this has the potential to go all the way? Absolutely.”