so.. how is this better than the standard chain or U lock? as mentioned, anyone can walk off with it. with modern locks, they can't. so.. this seems a step backward.

Gee, more complicated, time consuming and less secure while making the pedals inferior.

"Pedal Lock appears to be a very promising innovation..."
I am in total disagreement. While I like the thought of having objects handling multiple tasks this often means said objects come with compromises and this idea is flawed in several ways.
1. It only secures the bike can not be ridden away. As you mention it does not lock the bike to anything but not only that it doesn't even secure the locked wheel to the bike as opposed to what most bike mounted locks do. 2. Pedals need to be firmly tightened to the pedal arms and they automatically tighten when one rides the bike thus removing and reattaching the pedals seems unlikely to be both simple and maintaining the pedals being firmly connected to the bike. 3. Pedals gets dirty. We step on them with the soles of our shoes and they get sprayed with dust and water when riding. I'd think/hope most people would prefer to wash their hands after handling a pair of pedals.

I'd rather see a small GPS tracking deivce embedded in an unseen spot.

Once an efficient way of breaking the lock is figured out carrying a set of pedals to the crime scene is not going to slow down the thief.

don't see the benefit.. I am glad they didn't waste time with a prototype. Still waste of graphic designers time.

The problem with chain locks is most can be picked easily or cut and you can ride away on the bike. If you take the pedals off and clip them to the wheel it adds another useful barrier of protection because you now need more than just a set of bolt cutters to get the job done.
My bike doesn't need to be theft-proof, it just has to be harder to steal than the bike next to it :)

Industrial design students. I expected as much. As usual, they are so enamored with their visual concepts that they don't think about the practicality or lack thereof. For this kind of "security," seatstay-mounted wheel locks have been available for a very long time now and are common in countries that are bike-friendly. They're even easier to use since you don't have to fiddle with your pedals.

One of the pedals has two small but strong iron bars protruding from it which secure it to the other. Am i the only one who sees spanish inquisition here? You couldn't drive the bike even yourself, could you..

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=bicycle+wheel+lock
Same level of security, 0.0001x the time to deploy & retract
I couldn't find a (non ludicrously expensive) bike in Seoul without one.