Travel the way your luggage does

August 21, 2015 8:52 PM

Have you ever wanted to follow your suitcase down the conveyor belt into the bowels of the airport? Well thanks to Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport, now you can. There's a cool 360 degree view, too. (Flash required for 360 view.) [via]
posted by Room 641-A (32 comments total)

The scale of that is staggering.
posted by calamari kid at 9:03 PM on August 21, 2015 [3 favorites]

The backing music you want for that video is Science Is Fun from the Portal 2 soundtrack.
posted by mhoye at 9:07 PM on August 21, 2015 [5 favorites]

I would definitely pay for a ticket on this ride.
posted by twirlypen at 9:10 PM on August 21, 2015 [3 favorites]

Especially through the X-ray machine at the beginning.
posted by Confess, Fletch at 9:16 PM on August 21, 2015 [2 favorites]

Have you ever wanted to follow your suitcase down the conveyor belt into the bowels of the airport?

Not after seeing what it looks like when (if?) I get it back at my destination.
posted by Nerd of the North at 9:16 PM on August 21, 2015 [7 favorites]

"Good morning, and welcome to Black Mesa..."
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 9:24 PM on August 21, 2015 [11 favorites]

The part in the Toy Story movie wasn't too far off!
posted by The otter lady at 9:25 PM on August 21, 2015 [2 favorites]

I'm very sad there are cuts.
posted by Uncle at 9:42 PM on August 21, 2015 [10 favorites]

Found an amateur version, complete with a scary, interference-filled trip through the x-ray machine.

TIL luggage locks are totally worthless.
posted by cosmic.osmo at 10:12 PM on August 21, 2015 [3 favorites]

The last bit with the kuka or abb arm is wonderful. As are the giant stacks for sleeping luggage while it waits dreaming for the stars to be right its flight. And the sideways tilting belts. Oh and the express lanes!

In short I loved everything about this video.
posted by autopilot at 10:47 PM on August 21, 2015 [4 favorites]

The backing music you want for that video is Science Is Fun from the Portal 2 soundtrack.
posted by mhoye at 9:07 PM on August 21

SURPRISE! We're doing it now.
posted by otherchaz at 10:52 PM on August 21, 2015 [3 favorites]

Wait, I don't understand. Where is the person placing the bag into the overhead bin? Where are the complimentary glasses of beer or champagne? Why isn't the bag at least allowed to rest at the airline lounge?

If this is how an economy bag is treated, how are economy passengers treated? It must be horrible.
posted by bonje at 11:30 PM on August 21, 2015 [4 favorites]

Holy shit that is elaborate. And I thought the end of Toy Story 2 was exaggerating what that place is like; looks like they downplayed and simplified it.
posted by zardoz at 4:23 AM on August 22, 2015

With a system that simple, what could possibly go wrong?
posted by TheClonusHorror at 5:31 AM on August 22, 2015 [4 favorites]

I love what appears to be a queuing system with all of the racks in yellow scaffolding. That's how you get all your luggage in one steady stream I bet!
It's very analog-representation-of-computer-science-algorithms, and I'd love to learn more about how space filling and organizing are done here.
posted by oceanjesse at 6:35 AM on August 22, 2015

I am still mystified how the system as a whole knows where to route the luggage so that it finds its way to the right location. Where does the sorting happen? I thought there would be at least some point where someone scanned the sticker Barcode or something.
posted by Karaage at 6:43 AM on August 22, 2015 [2 favorites]

RFID tags maybe? There are a lot of points at which the bags are sorted or shunted from one track to another, and I didn't see a barcode scanner.
posted by Dip Flash at 7:28 AM on August 22, 2015

Never. Buying. Soft-sided. Luggage. Again.
posted by bitter-girl.com at 7:40 AM on August 22, 2015 [2 favorites]

So this is why you tuck and wrap down all the straps on your backpack.

Ten times more complicated than I would have expected, and ten times fewer shifty-looking men.
posted by Flashman at 8:07 AM on August 22, 2015 [1 favorite]

Now, I want to see a camera-bag sent through when one of those conveyors, elevators, or flipper-things break down. I wonder what kind of workarounds happen, or how quickly it degrades into chaos. The preventive maintenance on that equipment has to be robust.
posted by Fig at 8:09 AM on August 22, 2015 [1 favorite]

The backing music you want for that video is Science Is Fun yt from the Portal 2 soundtrack.

Or Powerhouse (AKA Looney Tunes Assembly Line Song)
posted by obscure simpsons reference at 8:20 AM on August 22, 2015 [2 favorites]

No, thanks, Toy Story 2 acclimated me with this particular feature of airports back in 1999.
posted by Hermione Granger at 9:08 AM on August 22, 2015

This is so cool! I had no idea there were roller coasters inside airports.
posted by jessypie at 10:12 AM on August 22, 2015

Cosmic.osmo, your video reminded me of some fellow sending a shielded GoPro through a 2.5Mev electron irradiator.
posted by endotoxin at 10:19 AM on August 22, 2015

I want to fill the tracks with water and turn into into a log jam ride.
posted by Room 641-A at 10:25 AM on August 22, 2015 [1 favorite]

I love the segmented plywood conveyer belt that tilts to dump bags. I wonder if it is old equipment that they keep replacing the wooden parts for or it was actually cheaper to build it out of wood and eventually replace than the alternatives.
posted by ssg at 10:54 AM on August 22, 2015

twirlypen: "I would definitely pay for a ticket on this ride."

You must be this short to ride.
posted by Splunge at 11:08 AM on August 22, 2015

Put this on, hid the details and asked my son whether he fancied riding it...

Nope.
posted by IncognitoErgoSum at 11:42 AM on August 22, 2015

If you go to the Scheepvaartmuseum, the national maritime museum in Amsterdam, they have an exhibit room that has video projection on the walls of a very similar film, taken from the point of view of a shipping container traveling through the cargo carrying systems of the nation's ports. Since it's projected on all four walls you get more of an impression that you are moving (rather than simply watching a film of something moving) and can be a little disorienting when, for example, your focus and peripheral vision is telling you you are in motion but your inner ear is telling you you're standing still.

I wouldn't say that taking a film from the point of view of a package is a Dutch thing, but they seem to do it very well if it is.
posted by Nerd of the North at 1:11 PM on August 22, 2015

Where does the sorting happen?

At 0:34 it fell into a grey bucket, and then goes through a couple of left/right junctions. With each junction, you double the number of gates you're sorting to.

Barcode scanners are slow and unreliable, so it was clearly done before any of that. The xray scanner station seems like a likely candidate to place it. Or maybe that pinball flipper machine. From there, you want something faster and more reliable. At least at Denver, the buckets have radio emitters.
posted by pwnguin at 4:38 PM on August 22, 2015

Thought 1: this is Toy Story 2!
Thought 2: the world is impossible…
posted by mazola at 11:17 PM on August 22, 2015

If you go to the Scheepvaartmuseum,

I went there hoping to see the sheep warts. So disappointed.
posted by Wolfdog at 11:59 AM on August 23, 2015 [1 favorite]