Fifty years ago, guessing what the future would look like was particularly in vogue, and all those fantastic retro-futuristic drawings were born. I remember seeing somewhere the concept for an automatic car parking machine with robots taking your car and stuffing it somewhere in a big warehouse. “That’s ridiculous,” I thought, “When we have the technology to do something like that, we won’t still be driving cars!” Well, I was wrong. Of course it’s not for cars, and of course it’s in Japan, but this automatic bike storage system (video in link) is definitely a little piece of the future.
These Cycle Trees, designed by JFE Engineering, have actually been in use for about two years in various places around Japan, and are recently starting to become a bit more common. A little tag stuck to your bike identifies it to the computer, which then files it away in a sort of big bike rolodex. Swipe a card, and you have your bike back in about 30 seconds, if that video is any indication. Man, I’d love to have one of these for my neighborhood. In fact, Seattle city planners are trying to figure out how to get more bike parking around the upcoming light rail stop on Capitol Hill. If they had one of these things, that’s it — problem solved (plus it’s awesome).
Of course, it’s isn’t free. But ¥1800 (about $20) a month isn’t too much to ask. It’s about on the edge of affordability, though, considering there are plenty of street signs and rails to lock your bike to around here. Still, it’s totally awesome.
[via Reddit]
Pretty old technology (In Japan)… They used coins in the 90’s to do the same thing.
You’re totally right – it seems weird that something can seem so new to me when it’s been standard elsewhere. Why is it they’re living in the future and we aren’t? That’s really the idea I guess.
You should visit Japan if you have not… my dad lived there for a while in the early 90’s and things he told might just be appearing now. They are in another league technologically!
lol. Can’t wait to see this thing go wrong.
I was working at Heathrow airport when they were testing the baggage handling system for the new Terminal-5. The thing went spectacularly wrong and thoroughly mangled a bunch of ‘test’ luggage.
Just imagine what this could do to a bunch of bikes…
we are talking about japan here, not uk british, they dont have things like monday blues or cravings for currys or the 30min smoke break every 2 hours.
Necessity is the mother of invention, and the populated country of Japan is what drives this type of innovation. No it isn’t new, but if the Paris free bicycle service used lockups like this and charged $20 per month to use the service, then 80% of its bikes may not have been vandalized or stolen by the poor outcasts who cannot afford to live in the 16th or lower.
Since they have already automated car parking for years in japan…
one wonders why just now for bikes, and why are we still using cars? :P
Have seen this in Japan. A far better alternative than the eyesore bicycle parking lots that dot Japan’s urban landscape.