Automated Bike Storage System
February - April 2024
Group Project · Bachelor Level · Industrial Design Engineering
Course: Design of Mechatronics and Systems
This project explores the design of a large-scale automated bicycle storage system for high-density environments such as university campuses. Combining Systems Engineering and Mechatronic Design, it simulates a realistic and complex product development environment, focusing on how intricate component interactions can be balanced with overall system performance, cost, and feasibility. The result is a system that transforms chaotic bicycle parking into a structured and user-friendly experience.
Design Challenge
The challenge was to design a system capable of handling large flows of bicycles during peak moments, while maintaining speed, reliability, and ease of use. At the same time, the system needed to operate within real-world constraints, including limited space, cost efficiency, safety requirements, and integration within existing campus infrastructure.
Approach
The project was approached as a system-level design, combining Systems Engineering and Mechatronic Design to manage complexity across multiple interacting components. The system was divided into four key subsystems: drop-off, transport, storage, and user interface, each addressing a specific function within the overall flow.
Starting from stakeholder needs, we translated requirements into measurable criteria such as throughput, capacity, and usability. These informed the development of the system architecture, including subsystem interactions, control logic, and user flows. By continuously aligning technical decisions with user experience and system performance, the design evolved into an integrated and scalable solution.
Starting from stakeholder needs, we translated requirements into measurable criteria such as throughput, capacity, and usability. These informed the development of the system architecture, including subsystem interactions, control logic, and user flows. By continuously aligning technical decisions with user experience and system performance, the design evolved into an integrated and scalable solution.
Requirements
The requirements were defined from the perspectives of the main stakeholders: users, owners, facilitators, and governors. This helped ensure that the system was not only technically functional but also practical, safe, and feasible to implement.
System Concept
The concept is an automated, flow-based bicycle storage system designed to handle large volumes of bikes in a fast and organised way. Instead of users searching for a parking spot, the system takes over the storage process entirely.
Upon arrival, the user brings their bike to a drop-off station located along their natural route. After identification, the bike is placed into a holder that automatically secures it in a vertical position. From there, the system takes control.
The bike is lifted and attached to a continuously moving cable-driven transport system, similar to a ski lift. This allows multiple bikes to move through the system simultaneously, ensuring a constant flow and preventing delays during peak moments. The transport system carries the bikes to a dedicated storage area.
In storage, bikes are distributed across layered rails with varying heights and depths, allowing them to be packed densely without interfering with each other. This maximises capacity while keeping the system mechanically efficient.
When the user returns, they identify themselves at a pick-up point. The system locates the corresponding bike, retrieves it from storage, and transports it back. The bike is then lowered into an accessible position, ready for the user to take and leave.
Personal Contributions
This project gave me a much clearer understanding of what it means to design within a complex system, rather than focusing on a single product or interaction. Being part of the drop-off subsystem design made me realise how even a single touchpoint in a system is deeply interconnected with everything around it. What initially seemed like a straightforward interaction quickly became a complex moment where user behaviour, system timing, and mechanical constraints all had to align.
It also made me more aware of how easily assumptions can break down in a larger system. Decisions made within our subsystem often depended on inputs from others, and when those weren’t fully aligned, it affected the overall flow. This highlighted the importance of continuous communication and checking how every decision influences the system as a whole.
At the same time, I found it especially interesting to design at the intersection of user interaction and technical systems. The drop-off experience had to be intuitive and effortless, while also triggering a precise sequence of automated processes. This pushed me to think beyond the interface and consider how the entire system supports and responds to user actions.