This Robot Is Quite the Trash Talker

The theme for TEDx Copenhagen 2019 was "expect the unexpected," so naturally they contacted MAKESOME about creating, what else, a talking trash can. It’s definitely not something you’d expect at such an event, and from the in-action footage starting at around 6:30 in the video, people were certainly surprised to see it. It was apparently even allowed on stage to tell a rather corny joke.

This trash-bot is designed on an omni wheel robot frame, with four DC motors and compound wheels that let it travel in any direction like an earthbound drone. An Arduino Uno is used as the master controller, taking in user commands from a PlayStation gamepad via a Bluetooth dongle and USB shield. This activates an MP3 module over serial to output rude and/or ~funny sayings, and sends signals to an Arduino Nano tasked with motor control duties.

On top of this fairly slim robot is an aluminum extrusion frame with garbage bin labeling, and it was indeed put to work as a portable refuse device. The device has a fairly massive 22,000mAh battery to provide power for the lengthy event.

While definitely successful, like any build, there are still improvements to be made and it will be interesting to see how it develops further! Nevertheless, MAKESOME's work did bring back memories of PUSH, Disney World's animatronic trash can.