In the good old days, riding a Suzuki up stairs required skill and people would look at you like you were crazy. However, on a Suzuki MOQBA quad bike, no skills are required and people are more likely to look at you with pity. Four small motorized wheels, each mounted on a mechanical leg with three degrees of freedom, hang from two boomerang-like frames. This is the machine chassis based on four-wheel drive architecture (MOQBA) that Suzuki just demonstrated at the Japan Mobile Equipment Show.
On this chassis it is possible to install any component, from a sit/stand motorcycle seat to a wheelchair, stretcher, waste bin, robotic arm or carrier.
The idea on Suzuki's part was to create a self-balancing, next-generation transportation device that could go where motorcycles couldn't. It's more robotic than suspension, more like a quad bike than a four-wheeler, and closer to Hyundai's crazy "ultimate utility vehicle." MOQBA seems to be climbing the stairs leg by leg, so it's a long way up to the third floor. But the chassis rotates around the seat, so even if the wheels are three or four steps apart, you're still roughly level.
According to Eco Finance, MOQBA has a top speed of 20 miles per hour (32 kilometers per hour) and a cruising range of up to 50 miles (80 kilometers).
Of course, if this "next generation scooter" goes into production, it will replace more scooters and wheelchairs than motorcycles. In this regard, the device you are looking at can certainly open doors for seniors and people with disabilities, allowing them to easily access subways, rough terrain, and pretty much any area that was not considered wheelchair accessible. One need only look at the horrific shape of Japan's population pyramid to understand why Suzuki is solving such problems.
After being equipped with a stretcher, it is possible for the post-disaster reconstruction team to use it to rescue the injured from rocky and gravel terrain, and the rescue will be relatively stable and comfortable. In fact, the chassis could also become an ideal platform for a variety of autonomous or remotely controlled robots.