Elevator technology rising to new levels

It is, in the words of Pedro Baranda, the chief executive of Otis Elevator, a case of thinking ‘‘outside the box’’. Soon, you will be able to walk into your apartment building and, when you reach the lifts for your ascension to the fifth or the 15th floor, one will be waiting for you.

No pressing buttons. No standing in uncomfortable silence as the numbers click through on the display above your head. An elevator with elevated intelligence – typical, Mr Baranda says, of the innovation the industry is pursuing. Indeed, he says, ‘‘the last 15 years has seen more innovation than the previous 60 years’’.

In the case of the thinking lift, wireless sensors will pick up the presence of a resident’s mobile phone or security card as they enter a building and an elevator will be summoned immediately.

Other advances include kinetic energy systems that reduce power consumption, remote diagnosis of technical problems and faster lifts capable of servicing the modern super-skyscrapers, such as the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. Elevator dispatch is another big area of development and Otis has a team of mathematicians who work on designing systems that order lifts to different floors in the most efficient way. This could even include automatically allocating a person with vertigo an internal lift rather than one with windows.

The modern lift was invented by Elisha Otis and Otis Elevator, the company he founded, marks its 160th anniversary this year. It is also the 140th anniversary of the first lift installed in Britain – part of an illustrious history that includes elevators in the Eiffel Tower, the London Underground and the Empire State Building. Now part of the United Technologies conglomerate, Otis is the largest manufacturer in the world, with revenues of US$12 billion last year.

Otis’ future lies in China, which has more than half the global demand for new elevator systems.