Special wheelchair allows users to stand, climb stairs

A team of scientists at the Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials (KIMM), led by Dr. Chan-hoon Park, have designed and developed a special powered wheelchair that addresses the major problems regular products cause for people with walking disability.

The experimental new robotic wheelchair can climb stairs, and move the user into standing, reclining, forward-leaning or backward-leaning postures as needed.

This functionality is intended not only to make life easier for the user, but also to reduce the likelihood of bedsores or poor circulation caused by staying seated in one position for too long.

The chair consists of a central platform with a stair-climbing “crawler” module on the bottom and a standing module on top.