I was never a Doctor Who fan, but I remember one of my friends going on a tirade against the prop designers responsible for the Dalek, the show's all-powerful alien race--all of whom looked like low-budget garbage cans with wheels. "It's ridiculous," said my friend. "They're supposed to be the most powerful race in the universe, and they can't even go up stairs."

After repeatedly schlepping some back-breakingly heavy equipment up the stairs to my studio, I did some research to see how technology had advanced since the advent of the Dalek. Surely by now someone must have developed a machine that carries heavy things up the stairs and doesn't require you to install an expensive track.

I found my answer in a UK-based company called Manual Handling Solutions, whose C141 Cargomaster Stairclimber does the trick:

As you can see it's not quite an autonomous robot (which my robophobic self appreciates), it's more of a handtruck with an automated hydraulic piston system. The thing will haul up to 140kg, about 308 pounds, and only requires one operator. It also costs around US $4,000, not counting the training sessions required to learn how to operate the thing safely, which means I won't be getting one for my studio. I, like the prop designers of the Dalek, am sadly beholden to budget constraints.