Japanese Smart Trash Can knows where your trash will fall

As smart as it gets, the Smart Trash Can idea from Japan is something many a household could do with. Developed by Minoru Kurata, an engineer working with a Japanese auto maker, this excellent concept went on to win an Excellence Award at the Japan Media Arts Festival. The trash can comes with a sensor that detects the exact position of the trash and relays the same to the computer. The computer then sends a command to the can wirelessly, enabling it to pick it up without spillage. Kurata says, “The trash can has to move autonomously. To achieve that, I created a special mechanism, with a single axis for both the wheel rotation and the change in angle. So even if the wheels rotate, the position of the can itself doesn’t change. That mechanism, the circuitry, and the motor controller all fit within the diameter of the can. If the center of gravity is high, the can will fall over, so I made the can low, narrow, and compact, to keep the center of gravity as low as possible.”

The developer is working on applying for a patent to this technology. Following this, we can most likely see it commercialised. However, there is a limitation in the first version of the trash can. “The probability that the trash will go in is not very high, only 10-20%. Even making full use of the current sensor, it still has errors. So I’d like to improve the success rate. I want to either improve the sensor, or upgrade the control by reducing the error through a program.”