Friday, March 22, 2013

Post 16: Wireless Trash Can Catches Your Trash

Some of the technologies invented in Silicon Valley by the tech giants might not be as innovative and unusual. Japan is notorious for its most advanced technologies. Another innovative marvel takes its roots in Japan - and strikes the minds of all the scientists with the creativity of its idea.

The autonomous trash can on the wheels with the wireless communication can catch your trash by positioning itself right underneath it. The core technology of the trash can lies appears to be connected with Microsoft's motion-sensing Kinect camera.

This trash can invented by Minoru Kurata, an engineer at Japanese auto maker, won an Excellence Award at the Japan Media art festival.

The idea is phenomenal but the trash can has some drawbacks. It has to have a low enough center of gravity to be able not to tip over. So it is not possible to put the bag full of weekly amount of trash into it. Also, the probability that the trash will go in is not very high, only 10-20 %.

The inventor is working really hard to make the technology a commercial product, but it hopefully someday we will have a wireless smart trash can in the market.
original article at Time

6 comments:

  1. Haha this is pretty wacky idea. It reminds me of the Roomba (autonomous vacuum). I wonder if there is an actual viable market for something like this.

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  2. Brilliant idea, but I think the probability of the trash going in is way too low...it has a long ways to go till this technology will become a commercial product.

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  3. It is an interesting idea. There is still improvement along the way for the technology to make the aiming probability higher. Perhaps the technology will not be used for trash cans, but something else that is more profitable. Something brilliant always starts with a small simple idea.

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  4. Cool idea. It definitely caters to the notion that we are an increasingly lazy population and love technologies that allow us to be couch potatoes. That being said, if this becomes a profitable technology, could Microsoft sue this man for using something like their Kinect technology?

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  5. Nice find. I think an idea like this is premature in terms of it being a realistic and feasible solution to our trash problem. Definitely on to something big though.

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  6. This seems kind of frivolous technology wise. I think there may be more to the technology and the sensors that is being let on.

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