Computer Scientist Karen Liu Creates Tech To Help People Get Up The Stairs More Easily

Computer scientist Karen Liu creates tech to help people get up the stairs more easily

Karen Liu, a computer scientist at the Georgia Institute of Technology, worries stairs could become a real issue for her 70-year-old mother.

So when Liu heard about an exoskeleton that stores energy to make walking easier, she wondered if there was a way to do it for stairs.

She wanted to design something inside the steps themselves, rather than a device someone would have to put on their body.

Liu enlisted two engineering colleagues and set to work creating a prototype, which they describe in a paper published Wednesday in PLoS ONE. They designed a system of springs and magnetic locks that holds a movable stair tread. Read more (7/12/17)

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