This is a fantastic example of building on the work of others, then 10x'ing the possibilities.

Way back in 2013, Japanese automotive engineer Minoru Kurata invented a Smart Trash Can. It used Microsoft's Kinect sensor, a motion-tracking device invented for the Xbox, to detect when a piece of trash was thrown in front of it. It beamed this information to a motorized trash can that would whiz over and catch the trash.

While Kurata expressed interest in commercializing it, the project never went anywhere.

Fast-forward to now. HTX Studio is a China-based engineering and technology team that develops innovative projects purely for social media content. The drawback to Kurata's design, they reckon, is that it relied on a wall-mounted sensor, greatly limiting the trash can's range. This being 2025, they thus built a small army of trash cans, each with their own camera and small computer running machine-learning software.

Each can is equipped with three powerful motors. Between that, the camera and the computer, the can is able to quickly zip over to catch thrown trash.

They then built a rotating dock that allows the cans to charge.

Most impressively, they designed and built an automated bag changer. Their contraption removes full bags from the can, and heat-seals them shut before dumping them into a container. A fresh bag is then installed in the can.

The full video is worth a watch; the group has a good sense of humor, and shows some of the entertaining variants they built, including a trash-talking can that denies you buckets, like an NBA player, and a punitive can that disciplines you with projectiles if you carelessly spill trash.

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As frivolous as the project may seem, I think it could have real-world applications. If the cans were off-road capable, for instance, they could be useful for crop gardening and yardwork chores. What I wouldn't give to be able to pick rocks out of my garden, throw them over my shoulder and have a roving 'bot collect them.