Technology is an Amazing Thing… New Scalevo Wheelchair Makes Scaling Staircases Look Easy!

By: | June 15th, 2015

Technology is rapidly advancing, for better or worse, but there is no denying how it has improved some products by providing added capabilities.

Take the wheelchair, for example, a great invention in itself, that hasn’t seen much change over the years.

Until now…

A new wheelchair prototype, called Scalevo, features rubber, tank-like treads mounted to the bottom of the chair that literally enable the wheelchair to climb stairs.

Specifically, the user backs up to a staircase, where the treads then come out and lift the chair at an angle to easily scale the stairs.

What began as a simple class project, has now turned into ten electrical engineering and industrial design students from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology and the Zurich University of the Arts working together on the Scalevo.

Right now, the tentative plan is to have the wheelchair ready for next year’s Cybathlon… I wish them luck!!

Marshall Smith

Technology, engineering, and design enthusiast.

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