Have you ever seen a sci-fi movie about the future where robot garbage cans move by themselves to pick up our waywardly thrown garbage? You’d think humanity has reached the level of technology to make that happen, but no.

Evidently the people lazy enough to want an autonomously moving waste basket are also too lazy to create one.  That is until a mysterious mad scientist by the name of FRP created his own and recorded a video outlining the entire process.

The concept seems simple but creating most of it from scratch is a daunting process most of us wouldn’t dare take on.  First FRP created a wheeled base integrated with a circuit board and attached it to the bottom of the basket.

Then by monitoring the room with a Kinect camera (that seems to be a hacker’s dream device these days) he wrote a program which allows the camera to track airborne pieces of trash and control the basket to the place where it’s likely to land.

By watching the video it seems to work perfectly, catching various objects like wadded up papers, beer cans, and balls.  However, according to FRP the targeting system isn’t quite as accurate as the video suggests.  In fact it may have a long way to go.

Regardless, it’s a pretty slick device for one person to make by himself.  If he can perfect that accuracy then that little robo-can might someday make him a rich man.

Source: IT Media (Japanese)