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Amazing Japanese bicycle parking technology

When in doubt, use a Rube Goldberg robot to take care of your bike

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The Japanese have a problem: Illegal bicycle parking.

The Japanese embrace technological solutions to problems.

Q.E.D.: A robotic bike-parking machine conveniently located near subway stations that stores and retrieves bicycles quickly and efficiently (and reasonably cheaply — about 20 bucks a month ).

The Guardian has the non-embeddable video. The whole process seems vaguely Rube-Goldbergian, but that’s what makes it so crazy cool.

By Andrew Leonard

Andrew Leonard is a staff writer at Salon. On Twitter, @koxinga21.


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