History Main / CantUseStairs

* [[MemeticMutation Famously]], the ED-209 in ''Film/{{RoboCop|1987}}'', ostensibly built for urban law enforcement, was designed without the ability to navigate a simple staircase. {{Justified|Trope}} in-story, as it was intentionally written as a poorly-conceived design in several ways (spotty AI, major weak points, seriously overarmed), which is why the project was abandoned in favor of the titular character.

** Also, see the ''VideoGame/LEGOStarWars'' example in Video Games below.

** A RunningGag about the Daleks is their inability to climb stairs. Canonically Daleks ''could'' handle stairs (they are shown upstairs from where their time machine arrived in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS2E8TheChase their third story]]), but they didn't have the budget to ''show'' it until more than 20 years in. Fans have joked for decades that "Daleks don't climb stairs. [[DungeonBypass They level the building.]]"

Stairs are one of the oldest human inventions, and one that tends to be suited uniquely to a creature with multipedal locomotion using legs of roughly human length. Creatures with differing forms of locomotion sometimes have... trouble with them. Hence this trope.

** In ''Film/TheForceAwakens'', BB-8 has difficulty managing a long flight of steps, although he manages to roll down them one at a time with difficulty. In ''[[WesternAnimation/StarWarsResistance Resistance]]'' episode "[[Recap/StarWarsResistanceS1E5TheChildrenFromTehar The Children from Tehar]]", circumstances force BB to go down a staircase at speed, with the result being that he ends up tumbling out of control and rolling over himself at the bottom.

* In ''Webcomic/{{Freefall}}'', Qwerty the robot [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff400/fv00320.htm never learned to use stairs]]. Dvorak (who rolls on wheels) somehow got up, but Qwerty (who walks on legs) can't use stairs.

* In ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'''s CharlieAndTheChocolateParody episode, Joe ends up kicked out of the Pawtucket Patriot brewery tour before it even begins, because the brewery doesn't have a wheelchair ramp so he can't get in. At least Pawtucket Pat's Chumba Wumbas send him off in style.

* Generally averted by [[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7vVhkEfw4nOGp8TyDk7RcQ Boston Dynamics]]. Whether they have two, four, or six legs, their robots can get up and down a normal flight of stairs, albeit usually not as quickly or easily as a human. Subverted by Sand Flea: while its wheels are too small for it to climb up a single step, small flippers under the rear wheels allow it to hike itself up the entire flight like a self-propelled football, with later models being powerful enough to drive up to a warehouse, take one look at it, then launch itself up to the roof InASingleBound.

** A RunningGag about the Daleks is their inability to climb stairs. Canonically Daleks ''could'' handle stairs (they are shown upstairs from where their time machine arrived in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS2E8TheChase their third story]]), but they didn't have the budget to ''show'' it until more than 20 years in.

** A RunningGag about the Daleks is their inability to climb stairs. Canonically Daleks ''could'' handle stairs (they are shown upstairs from where their time machine arrived in their third story), but they didn't have the budget to ''show'' it until more than 20 years in.
** Third Doctor Jon Pertwee often talked about how children would give him earnest advice about how to get away from Daleks, which was to skip up a flight of stairs.

** In 4th Doctor episode, "Stones of Blood", the Doctor has sidekick K-9 hang back because the tower he's about to investigate "might have stairs in there".
** {{Invoked|Trope}} and subverted in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E6Dalek Dalek]]", where Rose and her companions attempt to escape the pursuing Dalek by scaling a flight of stairs, thinking it won't be able to follow them. This naturally prompts Adam to mock it as a "[[DoNotTauntCthulhu great big alien death machine, defeated by a flight of stairs!]]". The characters attempt to exploit this stalemate to try and negotiate with the Dalek, but it ignores the RedShirt's pleas to desist and just says "EL-E-VATE!" before levitating up the stairs after them. This was put in after one of the new series writers asked his girlfriend why she thought the Daleks made rather pathetic villains in the original show, and she told him how easy they were to foil.
** This was later lampooned on ''{{Series/QI}}''

* Toddlers and small children will also have difficulties navigating stairs on their own, due to their small sizes compared to the height of the steps.
* Generally averted by [[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7vVhkEfw4nOGp8TyDk7RcQ Boston Dynamics]]. Whether they have two, four, or six legs, their robots can get up and down a normal flight of stairs, albeit usually not as quickly or easily as a human. Subverted by Sand Flea: while its wheels are too small for it to climb up a step it can launch itself up the entire flight InASingleBound.