DIY Automatic Trash Bin

If you have a trash can out in the open, there’s a good chance that it also has a lid in order to hide whatever sight or smell resides inside. Unfortunately, this also means that you need to open it to throw refuse in, wasting precious seconds of your time every day, as well as causing your hand to come in contact with the grimy lid.

To solve this first world problem, hacker “MadGyver” came up with a solution using a micro servo to open the top, via a clever linkage made with a food can. To open it, a person rests his or her hand above an ultrasonic sensor, which actuates the servo like magic under the control of an Arduino Nano.

If this seems familiar, MadGyver made something quite similar about a year ago, but wasn’t satisfied with its battery life. To correct this, he removed the Nano’s power LED, along with the voltage regulator, which isn’t needed in this application. Finally, he used a MOSFET to cut off all power to the servo when in standby mode, allowing the device to consume only 12 microamps when in standby. This means it can run for well over a year with three AA batteries.

Check it out in the video below, or the see the original in the second clip.