Wheelchair that can climb Stairs

 

Innovation never stops rather tends to reach the top! Definitely, there will always be improvement on available resources to solve a current problem. To be more precise, consider this example from an ordinary chair turned into a wheelchair which can move from one place to another but it seems limited in going up and down stairs.
Here’s a newly developed hybrid-like wheelchair and a Segway, called Scalevo. The developers are extraordinary students from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich) and the Zurich University of the Arts under the directorship of Dr. Roland Siegwart and Dr. Roland Haas. The 10 students is a combination of engineers and industrial designers.

What can Scalevo do?
Since, it is using gyroscopic technology, similar to a Segway in “balance mode,” the on the spot rotation can be handled easily and it can change direction quickly.The speed on a flat surface is 10 kilometers per hour (6. 2mph). This wheelchair is also two-wheeled that can do more than an ordinary ones. It can climb stairs! It can ascend and descend with a slope between 17- 34 degrees.
Here’s the execution. Scalevo will drop two treaded tracks and climbs backwards up. At the same time it will keep the users upright all the times. Aside from that, it will took one stair per second to mount. It can scale spiral staircases as well!

“The great thing is that everything on this wheelchair is automated. If I want to climb the stairs I can just drive up to them, turn around, press one button and all I have to do is control the velocity I want to drive at. The alignment on the stairs, the leveling of the wheelchair driver, is automated and he can control it, he can view the back with a back facing camera, and have a full, safe, driving experience.” – Miro Voellmy, (Mechanical Engineering Student)

Since,Scalevo is not yet available commercially. The developers are thinking to begin a Kickstarters campaign to make this prototype available for everyone.