SmartCan hauls your garbage to the curb on pick-up day

[Shawn Knight]

Problem-solving: Admittedly, hauling the can out to the curb isn’t that big of a hassle but remembering to do so is. Anyone that has ever forgotten to do so on trash day knows first-hand how annoying it can be to manage an extra week’s worth of trash with a can that is probably already full.

Most smart home products are little more than silly gimmicks that use flash or parlor tricks to justify their existence. Refrigerators with a built-in display and washing machines that automatically order laundry detergent are two perfect examples.

Occasionally, however, something truly useful comes down the pipe like the SmartCan.

The SmartCan is a motorized accessory for your municipal-issued trash can. Developed by Andrew Murray as a way to automate a chore that everyone hates, the device will automatically drive your trash can to the curb on trash day.

A companion app is used to program the device, allowing you to set a date and time for the can to head out to the curb. After it has been emptied, the can will return itself to its storage location.

The accessory does have a few potential shortcomings. For starters, they appear to work in conjunction with docking stations. Not everyone will be able to install a docking station on their curb. What’s more, if you store your can in the garage or behind a fence, you’ll still have to remember to open the door on pick-up day. And if your can doesn’t make it back onto the sidewalk or gets tipped over, it’s not going to be able to return itself after emptying.

Cost and durability are also concerns that we don’t yet have the answers to. If it is too expensive or too fragile (trash cans take a beating, after all, and are pretty disgusting), user adoption will suffer.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/82135-smartcan-hauls-garbage-curb-pick-up-day.html

 

[bexwhitt]

Stick our brains in jars and get robots to do everything.

 

[Uncle Al]

Another little thing they left off ..... if you have a long gravel driveway that thing probably won't be able to navigate the entire distance without turning over, thus creating a bigger mess than that nasty Labrador next door creates when he gets into the can!

 

[CanAqua]

How long until someone steals this thing, and gets it to make babies for them...lol

 

[amghwk]

What was that animated movie that showed people became sedentary and fat because the tech doing all the work for them again?

Pushing garbage truck should be done as an exercise, IMHO.

 

[treetops]

I hope we can avoid people tripping over it and suing -This is why we can't have nice things.

What was that animated movie that showed people became sedentary and fat because the tech doing all the work for them again?

Pushing garbage truck should be done as an exercise, IMHO.

Wall E, awesome movie

 

[ShagnWagn]

When it tries to run over a small child or pet, will it also have the feature of dumping the can contents on top of them? Videos please.

While I don't have a fence, my ridiculous city says no storing cans in front of the house. I basically have to store it behind the house, which there is grass and a hill to go across. I'm sure I am not the only one. How is this going to work? And how to protect against theft? I don't see how this will become a thing.

What was that animated movie that showed people became sedentary and fat because the tech doing all the work for them again?

Pushing garbage truck should be done as an exercise, IMHO.

Pushing a truck is a pretty tough task. The movie shows they don't use garbage cans on Earth. These will not be needed then.

 

[amghwk]

When it tries to run over a small child or pet, will it also have the feature of dumping the can contents on top of them? Videos please.

While I don't have a fence, my ridiculous city says no storing cans in front of the house. I basically have to store it behind the house, which there is grass and a hill to go across. I'm sure I am not the only one. How is this going to work? And how to protect against theft? I don't see how this will become a thing.



Pushing a truck is a pretty tough task. The movie shows they don't use garbage cans on Earth. These will not be needed then.

Sorry, I meant pushing the garbage can.

 

[cliffordcooley]

Will it also come to us when we need to throw something away?