This Robotic Trash Can Takes Itself to the Curb

[Sherman A1]

Automation is coming into areas that we never even considered. This is just one example.


A major appeal of automation in this era of rapidly developing tech is increasing accessibility and autonomy for disabled individuals. Scientists have created impressive exosuits and robotic gloves for people with limited mobility and motor skills. But for all the advantages of these flashy advancements, they remain pricey, complex and hard-to-use, while, as some critics point out, failing to address critical infrastructure upgrades, like ramps and accessible transportation, needed to improve disabled folks’ daily lives.

Even still, some companies are striking a balance between flash and function, finding small ways to use robotics to make everyday tasks less monumental for people who aren’t able-bodied.

One such invention is the SmartCan: a motorized garbage can and app that takes the trash to the curb for you. SmartCan, the first product developed by the Massachusetts-based company Rezzi, just won ProtoLabs’ Cool Idea award, which provides grant funding to “innovative thinkers” for building prototypes and accelerating the process of bringing inventions to market. With assistance from ProtoLabs, the SmartCan team slashed nearly six months off their production schedule, and the manufacturer fabricated the entire prototype.

SmartCan is essentially a pair of robotic wheels that are compatible with any municipal-issued trash receptacle. Initially, those wheels were programmed to travel from a docking station at a person’s residence to a second docking station at the curb. (They’ve since eliminated the dock at the curb to accommodate local laws and pedestrian safety.) SmartCan is also synced to an app that can be scheduled for the time and day of your neighborhood’s trash pickup.


https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/robotic-trash-can-takes-itself-curb-180973346/

[Cattledog]

1. Good for elder or disabled people. Bad for everyone else.

Another way to keep people sedentary.

[tblue37]

2. I'd like that. Walking is painful for me, so dragging my trashcans to the curb each week is

an exercise in agony.