Vertiwalk is a small, compact manual lift that can take you to the upper storey without having to navigate the treacherous staircases. The manual lift can whisk you to the upper floor using only 10 percent of the energy required to climb the stairs.
Vertiwalk is a hybrid between stairs and elevator. The Dutch designers have designed the pulley-operated manual lift at the Rombout Frieling Lab in Eindhoven, Netherlands. Vertiwalk is a pulley-operated elevator powered by your upper and lower limbs. The designers of the manual lift believe that it will come in handy as the migration towards highly-populated cities continues, and the cities keep expanding.
Estimates predict that more than two billion people will migrate towards the cities in the next 25 years. With the house prices on a constant rise, the people have no option but to make the most of whatever space is available to them.
The riders propel themselves up manually using their arms and legs. The users of the Vertiwalk pull on the two ropes with their arms pushing the seat upwards. When pushed with legs, Vertiwalk propels them upwards.
The device can also be operated by those with the leg impairments. However, it could not lift the people in the wheelchair. Only a fraction of the body weight needs to be shifted between the seat and the foot plate of the Vertiwalk to push the seat upwards.
“By using harmonious movements and smart materials, only 10 percent of the effort of walking stairs is needed to bridge multiple floors. This not only provides a solution for the growing number of people who are unable to take stairs, but moreover offers new possibilities for urban architecture.”
You can learn more about the Vertiwalk in this video: