This bicycle is actually a wheelchair in disguise.

A seemingly silly creation with a serious purpose.

The inventor runs a small company in Nagoya, Japan.

He believes his contraption could save lives in a disaster.

Junji Nagayama says the idea came to him after watching people try to ride through debris after Japan’s earthquake and tsunami in 2011.

He says if bikes could be used as wheelchairs, it would enable anyone to save another person’s life.

But the key was designing a bike that could quickly become a wheelchair.

Nagayama says his first prototype took five minutes—too long.

He says after much trial and error, he finally created a design that was light and easy to switch into a wheelchair.

Nagayama has already applied for a patent on his design, and apparently has interest from large manufacturers.

He says if even one life is saved, he’ll be happy.