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Volkswagen boffins turn staircase into giant working piano keyboard

Stairway to heaven?

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Agentless Backup is Not a Myth

Can’t be bothered taking the stairs or putting your rubbish in the bin? You might change your mind when you see how electronics have been used to create a set of musical stairs and a ‘bottomless’ bin.

Can't see the video? Download Flash Player from Adobe.com

Car firm Volkswagen recently teamed up with some designers to transform a set of steps at a subway in Stockholm into, well, a giant musical keyboard not too dissimilar from those played by Tom Hanks in flick Big.

The subway keys don’t appear to light-up, but each plays an individual note every time someone steps on them.

Not into walking? How about chucking your rubbish into a bin that makes it sound as though your Coke can and chip papers are falling down a bottomless well?

That’s what Volkswagen’s other technical innovation does.

The bin also makes other random sounds too, we should point out.

Can't see the video? Download Flash Player from Adobe.com

Reports as to why exactly Volkswagen chose to make a set of hi-tech stairs and a musical bin are mixed, but the reasoning seems to lie in finding ways of encouraging more people to use stairs – rather than take the escalator – and to put rubbish into bins instead of the nearest hedge.

Whatever the reasoning, the ‘experiments’ make great videos. And they seem to work. ®

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Latest Comments

@Anonymous Coward 15:01 GMT

Why do they have to be deaf to make use of sign language

One of them could be mute or even both of them.

Maybe one is foreign but they both know signing.

many reasons

but then again i did go HUH !? when i first saw it. But then again i thought about it before posting (something i dont normally do)

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Anonymous Coward

De Efteling

De Efteling(1) over here in NL has had talking(2) litter receptacles for decades and they work. Been there, done that, got the t-shirt. More power to their elbow etc. etc. etc.

(1) Think Alton Towers . . . only better.

(2) They spout "Papier hier"(3)

(3) For the linguistically challenged it literally translates as "Paper here."

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EXCELLENT!

love it..

top marks to whoever thought of this..

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