The present invention relates to an aid device for ascending and/or descending staircases for people with motor disabilities.

A stair assistance device and a system for assisting individuals with traversing stairways is provided. Each stair assistance device includes a platform. The platform has a first end that is defined opposite of a second end. Each end has an interface. Each interface is designed to secure the end of the platform to one of a pair of lifts. The lifts are designed to vertically displace the platform from a raised position to a lowered position and vice versa. Multiple stair assistance devices may be used to assist an individual with traversing an entire stairway.

A stairway (1) comprising a plurality of steps (2) each defining a top surface or tread (3) is converted into a lift platform by employing a mechanism concealed beneath an envelope defined by the treads of all of the steps to guide each step of the plurality vertically from a stairway configuration in which the steps form a stairway enabling access from a lower (7) level to an upper level (8) to a flat configuration in which the top edge of each step is substantially in a horizontal plane level with one of the lower and upper levels from which a wheelchair user may wish to travel to the other of the lower and upper levels. As a result, a wheelchair user may move horizontally from the said one of the lower and upper levels on to a platform defined by the top edges of the plurality of steps in the flat configuration. The stairway and flat configurations occupy the same footprint.

The invention relates to a lifting system (1) for a stairway, wherein said lifting system can take at least two positions: a stairway position and a platform lift position. The lifting system is provided with a rotatable ramp (9) for enabling a walking-impaired person to enter or exit the lifting system, when the lifting system is in a platform lift position, said ramp being rotatable mounted along at least a part of an outermost edge of the step (2, 3). Furthermore, the invention relates to a method of operating a lifting system, wherein the operation transforms the lifting system from a stairway position to a platform lift position to enabling a walking-impaired person and/or an aid for a walking-impaired person to get from a lower level to an upper level or to get from an upper level to a lower level. Moreover, the invention relates to a computer program.

The invention relates to a system for assisted ascent or descent, comprising: a staircase comprising at least one instrumented mobile step, equipped with at least one sensor for measuring the centre of pressure of a user and at least one lifting actuator designed to raise or lower the step according to a degree of vertical freedom; a calculation unit connected to the sensor for measuring the centre of pressure and to the lifting actuator, the calculation unit being configured to calculate at least the position, the speed of movement and the acceleration of the user from the centre of pressure measured by the sensor and, depending on the values calculated, control the lifting actuator.