I don't find myself particularly grumpy or negative today, but this is a simple design, who anyone could have thought of and it would already be in place, IF it was cost effective and less extensive to install. The device itself might be cheap enough, but you also have to remove existing stairs, as well as adding extra space and machinery for the stairs to retract. At least if this video represents the sales version. I don't see many companies, government agencies etc, spending so much money and time on this to have it installed "all over" the place. I'm pretty sure someone can come up with a better, simpler and more cost effective design. Because, unfortunately, this isn't about the people in the wheelchair, and what they deserve, but about money and how effective these systems can be put in place. And yes, the world is unfair, nobody deserves to be in a wheelchair, or be in similar conditions, but we don't have the resources to have every area supplied with aid for all the different handicaps that people have around the world. Which again leads me to the point where we HAVE to make cost effective, AND practical solutions for ourselves, or it just won't take effect in the world we live in today.

#1 we can at least learn from our former mistakes when creating something new and better. I also pray for medical achievements.

#2 of course, i just didn't see this invention as any steps closer to anything we didn't already know, and in my eyes, a waste of time and resources possibly? I have seen delivery companies have those trolleys with 3 wheels on, that can "crawl" up the stairs with a certain function. This principal is applied to the appliance instead of the stairs. There are more stairs than trolleys around so it seems logical. Thats how i see wheelchairs too. There are more stairs and hinders than wheelchairs. Maybe we should look at reinventing the chairs instead?

Although this seems to provide great wheelchair access, it has the disadvantage of possible breaking down due to its sensitive electronic materials, and then leaving the building without access, unless they have a ramp too, whereas a traditional ramp is more simplistic but maybe also more reliable, nevertheless, cool design.
Cameramaster, did you get into the wheelchair business?

I have a really close friend in a wheel chair who has a great sense of humour so this comment is for him rather than the rest of you who are going to be offended. I'm thinking a slope and a rope. Seriously this system would cost an absolute fortune and what happens when there is a power failure half way up?
It would be simpler to invent the hover wheelchair......

#5 Thunders here, not offended ...kudos to your friend!

#7 This is not a commercial site, you may want to leave and advertise elsewhere!!!

#8 hahaha, his comment made me think of this joke

"I was offered sex today, with a 21 year old girl, in exchange I was supposed to advertise some kind of bathroom cleaner to my friends. Of course I declined because I am a person of high moral standards with strong will power. Just as strong as Ajax, the super strong bathroom cleaner, now available scented lemon or vanilla."

I may have told this TRUE story before but anyway. About 18 or so years ago having walked my daughter to school through a local park, I did the return journey through the same park. About five minutes in I came across a Mother and her daughter who was in a motorised wheelchair, they had unwisely taken a muddy detour off the path to avoid a couple of fallow deer who where blocking their way. Female fallow deer can be right barstards at times very obnoxious and have been known to run at you and try and kick you with their front feet, especially if you have a dog with you. I was quite used to the big feckers and usually arming myself with a stray branch would tell them to feck off and they usually did.
Any ways this couple now found themselves stuck in the mud (well the daughter in the wheelchair anyway) and were getting quite upset thinking perhaps that the deer would come and eat them. I had no choice other than to wade over through the winter mud in my best leather shoes and proceeded to help the couple. The girl in the wheel chair was quite a big girl and the chair was heavy duty and I struggled for about five minutes to try and get some traction on the wheels using broken branches but the chair wasn't going anywhere apart from further down in the mud. "We are going to have to try and get your daughter out of the chair, I'm afraid" I said "Then maybe the chair can be dragged out" The older lady turned to her daughter and said "Gemma, you are going to have to get out" Gemma calmly climbed out of the chair and walked over to the path. Feck me I thought..........

#7 Oui you dirty so and so get your herpes ridden willy off this website....dirty.....

my first thought was - finnaly an elegant solution!
and then i started counting motors ...
yeap there is at least four hidraulic motors here .. (hope that every stair doesn't have one) one of them has to be malfunctioning
and then i realized it's just a standard disabled platform hidden underneath an expensive staircase

#1 the only future for this i can think of are renovations of buildings with small entrances...
but who am i to say , people pay £5,200 for a plastic LED lit Spirit of Ecstasy (rolls royce bonnet ornament) which looks no different than 2$ RGB Holy Mary statue
why wouldn't they impress their guests with their altruism for an imaginary disabled friend

#11 well said , don't like seeing herpes around here

The main reason I uploaded this video is that I had a lady friend who was in a powered wheelchair, it was brought home to me just how hard it is to gain access to some places...and how ignorant some people are about such things.

The worst occasion was when she had to attend an 'assement' to see what kind of work she could do. OK...Asthma, COPD ( Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) , Wet AMD ( Age related macular degeneration ), Ankylosing spondylitis, PKD ( Polycystic kidney disease ) She had more than forty operations over the years for that alone. And that's just the conditions I can remember.

When we arrived for the 'assement' we found there was no lift...and the appointment was on the fourth floor....eventually the inteview was held in a ground floor utility cupboard. Amy ( typically ) said she WANTED to go back to work...AND since employers are not allowed to discriminate on the grounds of disability she was sure things would be fine...then she added she wanted to be retrained. The lady doing the interview nodded and said 'good idea!...now what would you like to do'?

'I want to be a commercial airline pilot'.

Silence ensued ;-)

If it wasn't so expensive, and did not require a 2nd person to operate it, I could see it as a good idea. Otherwise, it would be hard to beat a ramp.

#13 ramp is easy to beat

in most countries there is law which defines steepness .. and it's 5-8% which means if you need to go up just half a floor in an old building (2m) you need a ramp of at least 25 meters which in most cases isn't even possible so we have to install those crazy platforms or lifts
http://etc-access.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Inclined_A-V4_1.jpg
which are always covered or out of order so you just can't go in