Tokyo's Kasai Station gets robotic bicycle-parking contraption
By Donald Melanson 
posted April 21st 2008 5:02PM
posted April 21st 2008 5:02PM
We've seen a couple of robotic car parking garages in the past, but Tokyo's Kasai Station seems to have found another use for the same idea, with it now employing the services of an enormous bicycle-parking contraption that can store some 9,400 bikes. As you can see for yourself in the video after the break, the system is able to gobble up your bike and pull it down into the bowels of the garage with slightly terrifying efficiency, and at a cost of just ¥100 (about a buck) no less -- or ¥1,800 for a monthly pass. No word if they've had anyone try to stay on their bike and take a ride into the beast, although we'd assume there are some sort of safeguards in place to prevent those sorts of shenanigans.
i for one... aw screw it. die robot scum!
That's racist!
Very nifty and fast contraption. I wish they could do that for my car, so my wife wouldn't lose it in the parking garage :-)
They have those for cars too, but cars are not efficient in Japan, either space-wise, nor for the simple fact that you might as well just walk or use a bike.
The speed reminds me of the lifts of the Marriot Marquis in New York. Cool.
next person to say shenanigans is going to get pistol whipped!
what's that restaurant you like with the goofy shit on the walls and the mozerella sticks?
Pick up some power converters?
gah! you beat me too it, "bigs is right, im never guna get out of this parking gerage"
this video, along with its music, reminds me of stage 4 in Ikaruga...
They use that same technology at my mom's retirement home.
To put her back in storage? I think maybe you should look into some other homes...
Ur.momza.Irobot?
+ for Moe; that's pretty damn funny.
LOL!!!1 You made a funny!!
Are all bikes over there kind of dumpy like that one he is using to demo or does he just not want to use his good bike in case the machine decides to gobble it up?
While there are bike aficionado in Japan, just like everywhere else, most people who just commute to the train station from home seem to own those kind of bikes-cheap, durable, and...well, durable. Most stations (not that one), just have a big open space with racks for them-no one locks them, they just park and go.
yes, most city bikes seen around Tokyo are plain, single-speed machines, but people even plow up hills on them quite merrily. Bike theft does occur and is one of the few social ills (along with umbrella theft), so I do recommend locking your cycle in Tokyo (these plain models usually have a key-operated lock integrated onto the back wheel).
The warehouse I used to work at had an ASRS system, pretty cool to watch.
http://www.hksystems.com/automated-storage-and-retrieval/index.cfm
Yeah, my dad works in Automated Materials Handling / Automated Warehousing etc. He took some videos of some of the systems he saw at the last trade show he went to. Apparently the vendors will bus people out to other warehouses in the same city where they have examples of their systems fully setup and running... He even saw some fully automated fork-lifiting systems.
Really cool stuff!
i wish I could understand asianesese.........I kid, I kid.....but seriously, how about some subscripts. I for one dont understand a word (or should I say symbol) of Japanese
Anyone remember that medicore film "I, Robot"? Remember that car parking system that USR Robotics building had?
Surely this will grow in that one day.
Exactly what I was thinking (though my post seems to repeat what you said ... below ha...)
Only the Japanese...
Remember that garage scene in iRobot? kinda reminds me of that...
Redundant.
I'd say if someone tries riding into 'the beast' on their bike - who needs safe-guards? It should be considered Natural Selection.
are you american? cause if u are, can u run for president?
That's just 3 stations from me (I'm in Minami Gyotoku), why of all places do they have this contraption there? That's a low-volume station.
When I was in Japan in November, I came across several diffgerent automatic car parki8ng setups. My wifes parents condo building in Osaka even had that though it was just a 2 level elevator type setup with each parking spot having 2 cars. These seemed very common.
Saw a couple of 'open air' ones that were variations of this concept:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_JJFTuvXio&feature=related
Not bad, not bad. Security..beats a chain,padlock and parking meter.
Looks like if you DID try riding the bike in there, the storage rack just above yours would be just about the right height to impale your balls. Word to the wisenheimers.
If there's one thing I learned from a year in Japan...never assume anything. And ESPECIALLY never assume things which would otherwise be considered obvious and logical.
(...and especially Bart...)
We used to call them granny bikes...
You'll only appreciate it after you've been using one for a while. It is easier to get on/off, the chain won't stain your pants, the gears are hidden inside the rear wheel assembly, and the large basket is very useful.
that was supposed to be a reply to this:
whatishalo? @ Apr 21st 2008 5:33PM
Are all bikes over there kind of dumpy like that one he is using to demo or does he just not want to use his good bike in case the machine decides to gobble it up?
I always smile when I see those cartoony superimposed Japanese graphics and captions and such. And compare that to what you'd see on say, Fox. Their graphics are amusing for entirely different reasons. (*Cough*, football robots.)
Does anyone think engadget is getting their source of infomation from other tech blogs????
I seen this on another blog three days ago. ???