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"Vertical Walking" Invention: A New Way to Get from One Floor to Another

Human-powered, and supposedly 90% less taxing than stairs

By Rain Noe - November 30, 2016

in Social Impact

To change floors in a building you've got staircases, escalators, elevators and, in some magical parts of the world, paternosters. That's pretty much it. But an international design collective known as the Rombout Frieling Lab has designed an entirely new method of going up or down. They call it Vertical Walking:

Vertical Walking from ROMBOUT Frieling lab on Vimeo.

While this seems unlikely, they claim that by "Exploiting the potential of the human body and materials, less than 10% of the effort is required [to use this system] compared to taking stairs." To prove its efficacy, they put together this side-by-side video of a man with a prosthetic hip and knee using both systems:

Vertical Walking versus negotiating Stairs - for a user with a hip and knee prosthesis from ROMBOUT Frieling lab on Vimeo.

As for why they invented it:

The price of urban land is skyrocketing. And another 3 billion people are expected to live in cities: we will be forced to exploit vertical space: More and taller towers, the use of attics and roofs: we need to get up high.

Yet, our populations are aging and staircases become major bottlenecks, while being unattractive at greater heights for all. Lifts are rarely a good alternative as they rely on significant external power, they deprive us from daily exercise and are expensive and intrusive to install.

…No external energy is needed [for this system]. This prototype has been successfully tested by a wide range of users, including MS-suffering Angelica, Nigerian amputee Abiodun as well as young office tower workers who found it 'incredibly cool'.

While they've apparently got the mechanics figured out, it does raise all sorts of interesting design questions. Ought it be enclosed? If so, what can be done to prevent claustrophobia during use? And from a UX standpoint, would there be markings within the shaft for the user to have a sense of progress?

In structures housing multiple people, how would bottlenecks be avoided? How many units need to be installed?

Is there a mechanism to send it up or down autonomously, or does the unit always remain where the last user left it?

How will one carry things—packages, a glass of water, a load of laundry—up and down?

I for one hope they pursue the project, as I'm curious to see how these questions and more are answered. And apparently they will pursue it: "It is [our] ambition," they write, "to develop this experimental prototype into solutions that can help…all of us, to move harmoniously through our vertical habitats of the future."

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Ben Rodgers

8 years ago

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Skirts.

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Ehsan Hatami Nezhad

8 years ago

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Hey why not use it as a Ladder or even Scaffolding?!
Afew adjustments, and it could be used for any kind of indoor or outdoor Construction or Restoration activity,,,
Just Imagine it moving in yet another axis,,, Having a place for supplies, and a Single worker can Render any wall in 2 dimension efficientlly. Painters and Artists, can paint walls as efficient as a plotters, and so on,,,
There would be no need for exhausting process of climbing up and down just to replace, elevate or adjust ladders and old scaffoldings,,,

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David Beck

8 years ago

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The video is totally sketchy. The first visible stair on the left is the third, meaning there are 19 steps total to the top. The right side looks to be your standard ceiling height of 8 feet, or 13 or 14 steps. Hardly an apples to apples comparison.

The man also looks cherry-picked for being OK with one type of motion and not with another type of motion. What happens when the ability is reversed?

Next, there is no definition of "effort required". The amount of energy to elevate yourself 8 feet off of the ground is equal, no matter the method. Gravity is constant. If they are using a spring assist, what is the typical maintenance needed? Dynamic systems need much more hand-holding than static systems.

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jerry jaksha

8 years ago

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When I needed to move 16 ft vertical in minimal space, I chose to use a simple elevator platform costing about $300.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJzBMASlpwg
The video does not show the safety railing and second tube which now keep the platform from spinning.
The platform with attached 12 v winch motor is hooked to the top of a 2" steel tube. The winch and battery are part of the platform. Simple uhmw bearings suffice.
Advantages- anyone who can walk to it can use it. Could be modified easily for a wheel chair.
The winch motor has a remote control so it can be returned without a person. (important)
Using a battery means a simple solar panel can recharge it.
Existing winch auto brake technology and custom safety brake provide an extra safety net.

Recovering downward energy would be nice, but the stored energy can be a safety hazard if released at the wrong time. The motor does not recharge the battery going down- I could use help with making that happen.
No exercise, but anyone can use it.
It is not safe of course. That would probably add $10,000 to the cost.

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Mike Heck

8 years ago

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Very interesting concept, but what if you have this on the second floor and someone on the ground floor need to get upstairs?

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Christopher Hanks

8 years ago

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Way to think outside of the box! It does look funny, watching somebody shimmy up like that :) I can see this catching on quickly in places like Tokyo, or someplace with limited space and people who are already used to human power transportation such as biking.

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Bobtato Smith

8 years ago

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It's not clear from the video, but I would assume that this system involves a counterweight. Apart from being an obvious feature, that's the only way the 10% claim would be remotely believable. If so, then this is just a human-powered elevator, which does seem like a good idea for some situations.

I think the question of enclosure is the key one. If you could fit 8 independent riders into a normal elevator shaft, that's a big win; but if they need full enclosures, you're probably only talking about two independent riders, which is a step backwards. We already have a standard-ish size for enclosed elevators, and I don't think that size arose by accident.

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Sam Whitworth

8 years ago

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I could see this being viable in small domestic spaces where there is less stair traffic. Perhaps a small basket underneath the seat could allow for the transportation of smaller items.

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Jason Pokines

8 years ago

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Rain, to answer your enclosure question, no doubt there'd need to be some kind of gate to keep the user from falling out. As for protecting others, I'm envisioning an telescoping or accordion-like shield above and below the operating chair. The chair would be open-air with a gate, so you'd know where you are and avoid any claustrophobic sensitivities.

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Dee An

8 years ago

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A major issue with this concept: How does the user carry things 'upstairs', especially cups of tea?
Perhaps the device could be used as a dumb waiter, but then how are the items removed from the device when it reaches the next floor up, so that it can descend before taking the user up?

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- Jason Pokines
  
  Dee An
  
  8 years ago
  
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  I think for relatively small things like a basket of laundry or smaller, you'd have to have a dumbwaiter next to this vertical stairs. For bigger things like furniture, you'd need conventional stairs and/or freight elevators.
  
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Kevin Moynihan

8 years ago

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If the cost of adding machinery to go up isn't already too much, why not just have a descending system that takes no work? Get in at the top, release the stop, glide slowly to the bottom. Otherwise, valuable for space savings alone!

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