miro wrote: It might be cheaper and more convenient for a old hotel to have one stairclimber for their yearly wheelchair driver guest instead of building stairlifts on all staircases. The same argument can be made for old people unable to walk stairs in their family home. If wheelchair manufacturers and students only focus on tuning the current products without trying new and potentially innovative prototypes the industry gets stale, as shown best in the current wheelchair market.
Could I point out something that won't have occured to you if you are not a full-time wheelchair user....
For someone who is dependent on their wheelchair all day, every day, their wheelchair is a very precious thing. I don't like to be parted from my wheelchair or for it to be out-of-site as it is my independence, is normally very valuable, and often has many personal items in it. Even if I was prepared to sit in a wheelchair climbing stairs and therefore providing the entertainment for any passing person, what would I do at the top? My wheelchair would be downstairs, and I wouldn't be happy at a function upstairs, or in a hotel room overnight with my personal wheelchair "somewhere" downstairs.
I've not even touched on the fact that the seat would be the wrong width / length / height for me so I would be uncomfortable after a short time.
I have a similar problem with people who think a stairlift is a substitute for a lift. I will not use stairlifts. First there is the effort of transferring, then what do I do at the top with my wheelchair still downstairs? I've actually had people say " Oh don't worry we'll get a couple of people to carry your wheelchair up the stairs for you" Sure, all 130kg of it! I'm not going to risk that being dropped and wrecked.
Your wheelchair, and stairlifts might work for people who can walk short distances and who transfer without effort, but they are a minority of wheelchair users, and probably use those overgrown pavement-clearing scooters anyway.
However, I agree it presents a challenge for students. It must do because I don't think a year goes by without a student, or group of them, writing here saying they are designing a new, better wheelchair. Unfortunately, the reality of wheelchair use isn't anything like they imagine, so their goals are often solutions to problems we don't have, or would cause problems they haven't had to think about.
Sorry this sounds so negative. I can't think of any other way of explaining it.