In a touching story of love, determination, and innovation a 65-year-old mechanic from Andhra Pradesh has built a homemade escalator to help his wife climb the stairs in their home (and people throughout the country).
Satti Siva Narayana Reddy, a resident of Arthamuru village in East Godavari district, designed and built the motorised stair-lift system for his wife Satyaveni (58), who has been living with knee pain for years. The couple live on the first floor of their home and had to climb 21 steps every day, a task that had been painful for her.
Reddy said that the idea came to him about two years ago after watching his wife struggle daily with the staircase. He spent months developing and refining the idea and only recently did he have the actual construction. The project took about 20 days to build and cost around ₹70,000.
Even more stunning is that Reddy has no formal engineering degree. He studied only up to Class 5 and in the years he worked to improve mechanical skills in his rice mill by repairing tractors, agricultural equipment and heavy machinery. His experience on the ground helped him to design a functional mobility solution made of local materials.
The homemade escalator is powered by a 1.5-horsepower motor and can carry up to 300 kilograms. It also has an automatic stopping mechanism for safety and is connected to a 1400 VA inverter which can run even when the power is off.
But many of the videos of the innovation have gone viral on social media and people love Reddy’s innovation and dedication and creativity, and so many praised him for it. Users said it was a practical way of expressing love and that he did not just make a gesture of love; they described the invention as a real-world solution to a real-world problem instead of a symbolic gesture. But others said professionally certified accessibility tools may also have more safety features and so it’s important to make sure that such homemade systems are used with the proper precautions.
For Reddy, the project was never about recognition. It was about making life easier for the person he has known for a long time. His invention has been one of the best examples of innovation and what makes change happen and how often we don’t have the power to make things better in life.
