Markerless Digital Solution for Accurate Stairlift Measurements

Based in the North of England, the stairlift team has been manufacturing since 1996 - hugely committed to supplying the highest level of quality, safety, comfort, and reliability. Each stairlift is custom-built and designed to satisfy the needs of the customer and their home. What happens when you twin digital innovation with steadfast custom builds?

The team came to us with a problem they'd tried and failed to solve with another company before. Their ultimate goal was to leapfrog their competitors with a digital solution to measure and fit stairlifts.

We were challenged to build an Augmented Reality (AR) solution to provide digital measurements within 2-3 mm accuracy of manually generated figures. The solution needed to identify where the floor, landing, and rails were, as well as the tread and depth of each step.

We settled on running a time-boxed feasibility sprint to prove the concept and had two weeks to prove technological capability. We tested the AR capability of Apple and Android tech and found that iPads and iPhones with in-built LiDAR sensors became the clear frontrunners. We leveraged Apple's ARKit software interface to build a brand new markerless digital solution.

Our first iteration was a great success. The AR tech and sensors capture videos which an onboard gyroscope uses to generate a stereoscopic reconstruction - a 3D understanding of the world. The engineer only had to go up the stairs once to get his crucial measurements (they’ll appreciate the tech for that alone, that’s for sure!) Now the team we’ve worked with are using our tech on a variety of staircases and materials in multiple countries - what a win.

Looking to the future, we're envisioning the ability to design stairlifts in real-time, allowing the customer to make colour and trim amendments right from the device - this is the future, imagination knows no bounds.