This wheelchair can climb stairs of any size, including those that are uneven or spiral.
It has been a long-time challenge to find a way for wheelchair users to navigate stairs: the iBot from Johnson & Johnson was discontinued due to lack of use, since it was expensive and required upper body control and the use of at least one arm.
The Scalevo, built by ten students at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology and the Zurich University of the Arts, bypasses some of those problems. It works simply by pressing a button, which releases rubber tracks that can roll up uneven stairs. The treads allow the chair to ascend one step at a time at a rate of one stair per second, with the occupant facing backwards. A video camera allows the occupant to see behind themselves.
Inside the body of the Scalevo is a two-wheeled vehicle similar to a Segway: this design allows it to change direction on flat ground much more quickly than a conventional wheelchair. The treads can also be used to elevate the wheelchair on flat ground, in order to allow the occupant to see from a higher vantage point.
It took ten months for the students to build a prototype. When it was complete, they tested it on a variety of stairways and found that it that could ascend steps of around 34 to 17 degrees, meaning almost any staircase one is likely to encounter.
In 2016 the Scalevo will be part of the 20016 Cybathlon, a championship for people with disabilities who used advanced mobile and other assistive devices.
The students behind the stair-climbing wheelchair also hope to eventually bring it to market, and expect that the Scalevo could sell for about the price of a basic wheelchair.
(Via Fortune.)
