Home automation company Rezzi just won the Cool Idea Award from Protolabs for its “smart waste bin,” SmartCan.
What is SmartCan
It is a special autonomous waste bin which, guided by a smartphone app, can go and throw waste on its own and return to the base on its own after having emptied itself.
Protolabs, a company that provides rapid prototyping and on-demand manufacturing, deemed the innovation worthy of an award for its ability to combine different technologies.
How SmartCan works
The user can set a specific waste delivery day on his app, then the autonomous bin does everything by itself. He goes to the collection point, gets picked up by the waste vehicle, and once deposited on the ground he sets off in the direction of home.
“We want to help people eliminate unnecessary actions from their daily lives,” says Andrew MurrayCEO Rezzi and creator of SmartCan. “We see an opportunity in going beyond the internet of things as a tool for turning on lights or changing music. There is the possibility of alleviating the tiring monotony of different tasks that we repeat every day.”
Rezzi planned to bring SmartCan to the market by 2020, but the award received will help speed up the final stages of design and development. The timing will decrease by more than 6 months, adjusting the marketing calendar no later than June 2020: the construction process will also focus on 3D printed materials.
A noble purpose
“Autonomous robot vacuum cleaners have helped keep the house clean. Electronic doorbells contributed to safety. SmartCan contributes to household waste management,” says Vicky Holt, president & CEO of Protolabs.
“There are more and more autonomous devices in consumer electronics: their goal is to reduce the time we spend doing undesirable things and focus on more valuable things.”
