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Doria Fan, Angelina Ho, Alyssa Wright
Sensory-enhanced Domestic Object

Talkin' Trash

Our presentation for class (click on right half to advance slide, and on left side to go back.)

Concept:

A garbage can that can makes a mundane and gross task more enjoyable and promote more environmentally responsible user behavior.

It can:
- Give you feedback when you throw something out
- Remind you that it's time to take out the garbage, either because the can is getting full or trash day is coming
- Inform you of how much waste you're producing to make you more aware of your consumption
- Promote recycling

Some basic ideas behind concept:
On one hand, dealing with garbage is something we're very aware of because it is a very sensory, if unpleasant, and necessary experience. We have to handle it with our hands, see it, and smell it. But once we put it in the trash bin, it becomes somewhat of an invisible experience. We make a lot of garbage without any real thought to where it goes. When you throw something away, what does "away" really mean?

Garbage cans, as well, as other household appliances, are already a bit anthropomorphic. The lid often seems like a mouth. We are going to give it a little more life.

How does it work?
The trash can and recycling bins are a modular set that would gives both sound and visual feedback. the trash can would only make a sound when you open it (i.e. open it's mouth). For example, when you throw something out, and the can is near full, it can belch. When it gets very damp (using a moisture detector), often an indication that the trash is more prone to germs, smells, etc., it can cry. When you open it up to take out the trash, and change the liner and you have the most contact with i, it can giggle, as in being tickled. The sounds don't need to be so human, animal, or literal. But, with the sounds, the trash can takes on some "creature" behaviour.

Some ways garbage has been anthropomorphisized or made humorous (Oscar the Grouch, images from NYC's recycling web site, etc.):

Info on recycling in NY:
http://www.nyc.gov/html/nycwasteless/html/recycling/recycle_what.shtml#green

Some current developments in garbage can design and interactive garbage cans:
Talking Trash Can
Push - Disneyland's Talking Trash Can
http://thedisneyblog.typepad.com/tdb/2005/10/push_disneyland.html

Talking trash cans keep Berlin clean
http://edition.cnn.com/2005/TECH/09/27/spark.rubbish/index.html

Monster Garbage Cans Hit Toronto
features included, such as ashtrays, recycling, and battery collection (http://publicspace.ca/monster.htm)
but a lot of people are objecting it, because it just mainly serves as a tool for advertising and it's also energy-consuming (http://chandrasutra.typepad.com/chandra/2005/02/say_no_to_monst.html)

Trash Can Technology
Smart trash can getting a tryout
...uses solar power to sense when it is full and then automatically compact the garbage inside...
http://www.usatoday.com/news/offbeat/2005-03-03-can_x.htm?csp=34

High Tech Trash
...Berkeley has installed a trash can that takes a picture of the top of the trash pile and projects the image onto the sidewalk...
http://www.urban-atmospheres.net/UrbanProbes/Jetsam/artifact.htm

Touchless Trash Can
http://martin.eclecticblogs.ca/archive/2005/04/18/827.aspx


Some current basic garbage can & recycling bin designs:

Some anthropomorphic designs:

My friend Elliot put eyes on his space heater because it reminded him of Totoro.
Also, the Diaper Genie. Does not look like a genie, but performs the magic of a genie.

Possible sound samples/scenarios:
It may be preferable that sounds are triggered by some user action (opening trash) so that any sounds emitted don't feel like an alarm, and aren't invasive and don't cause "noise" pollution.

Cry:
When you open trash can lid, if it's too damp inside, it will cry, indicating it's time to take the trash out/change the liner/change the diapers.
Open lid > If too wet inside, garbage can cries
Tech: humidity sensor

Giggle (tickle):
When you change the liner (presumably, this is when you have the most contact with the trash can
Open lid to take out trash > remove liner (triggering "switch" and tickling the garbage can) > garbage can giggles
Tech: touch sensor, IR sensor, or just some mechanical switch that is triggered when you physically take out liner
Taking out trash/changing liner -- there should be some built-in switch/sensor that will reset the weight whenever the trash is taken out.

Burp:
When you open trash can lid, it will belch if it is full.
Garbage can senses its near full > User opens trash can (trash can's "mouth is open") > trash can burps
Tech: fullness can be determined by weight or IR sensors lined up near top of trash can.

Chewing/Eating sounds:
After you throw something out and the lid closes, garbage can will make digestion sounds.
Open lid > throw something in > lid shuts > digestion sounds
Tech: Weight sensor can detect change in amount of mass. or IR sensor can detect motion, i.e. if new garbage has been thrown in.

Mmmmm:
Open up lid to recycling bin > throw something in > lid closes > mmm sounds
Garbage/recycling bin makes happy digestion sounds -- reward for recycling/
Tech : same as stuff above

Sneeze:
Open up lid to recycling bin > throw something in > lid closes > sneeze sound: like an allergic reaction indicating you've thrown something in the wrong bin
I'm not sure how a garbage can could sense this,,, but here's a simple scenario

User bar code scans an item > trash can indicates that item is recyclable > user throws it in the waste bin > lid closes > garbage can sneezes
OR
User bar code scans an item > trash can indicates that item is not recyclable > user throws it in recycling > lid closes > garbage can sneezes

Eww!:
After you throw something out and the lid closes, garbage says "Eww!"
Open lid > throw something in > lid shuts > garbage says "Eww!"
Tech: Weight sensor can detect change in amount of mass. or IR sensor can detect motion, i.e. if new garbage has been thrown in.

Other sounds:
"Taps" gets played when garbage can is emptied. Sound of a woman screaming when garbage is falling. Sound of free fall, etc.

Some other quick ideas:
1 & 2) Ode to Jenny Holzer: facts and figures are displayed on outside of garbage can
3) LCD display on inside of lid gives facts and figures, and instruction on what and how to recycle
4) Bar code scanner on top of lid -- you can scan an item to find out which recyclin bin it goes in, and how to recycle it, and more info, etc...

Links to some pretty scary statistics about our waste consumption:
powerpoint presentation by Angelina

Possible feedback mechanisms for garbage can:

Ode to Jenny Holzer:
Garbage can could have an LED/LCD display with scrolling messaging across it (at it's base, or the top rim, wherever). It would constantly scroll statistics, and be like a Jenny Holzer piece.

We can think about location of the the feedback and whether it should be sound or vision based. We're thinking visual -- some kind of text display. Since our can already makes "creature" sounds, it might be strange if it actually speaks. Display could be on inside or outside of "lid" -- assuming we go with some kind of step-on pedal, open lid type garbage can. Of course, if it's on the inside of the lid, it would have to be covered/protected with some kind of plastic casing.

Possible scenarios:
1) User goes to change liner and take out trash
Open lid > change liner > garbage can giggles, whatever > while lid still opens, text display brightens to indicate a message > text display gives the following info:
- You have just produced XX lbs. of waste.
- You've produced xx lbs. of waste this week, for a total yy lbs. of trash this month, for a total of zz lbs of trash this year.
- An average college student produces 640 pounds of solid waste per day. (This last statistic can be swapped out with something topical).

At random, the garbage can can also give a statistic, vs. a sound feedback like:
- An American child takes up as much of the world's resources as 140 Bangladeshi children.
- Americans' total yearly waste would fill a convoy of garbage trucks long enough to wrap around the Earth six times and reach halfway to the moon. It is estimated that this year 222 million tons of waste will be generated by Americans.
- Since 1950, people in the UnIted States have used more resources than any generation who ever lived before them. Each American individual uses up 20 tons of basic raw materials annually.

Recycling:

On the inside, it should be color coded, one side blue, and green for the respective recycling bins. On inside of lid, there would be info telling you what is recyclable. Somewhere, maybe on the outside, would be a bar scanner. People could scan packaging materials, things, in general to get info on weather or not that material was recyclable. If yes, it would give info on where, how, etc. And also, give some relative information about recycling/consumption, relative to that material or industry.

Possible scenario:
1. User scans plastic container to see if it is recyclable > Recycling bin indicates, yes, and whether it goes in blue or green bin > User opens lid, and places it in the right bin > Closes lid > Can says "mmmm" > visual display gives some statistic, such as...
"Thank you. Americans go through 2.5 million plastic bottles every hour, only a small percentage of which are now recycled. "
2. User recycles paper > "Thank you. We throw away enough office and writing paper annually to build a wall twelve feet high stretching from Los Angeles to New York City. "

Or

User recycles paper > Recycling bin can calculates that user has recycled the equivalent of XX pounds of paper which takes one tree to produce > Recycling bin says "Thank you. In the past NN days, you've recycled the equivalent of one tree."

Feedback on the project/Next Steps :

Some general feedback on the project:
It needs to be more playful, and the interaction needs to be richer. Right now it feels to instrument-like, especial with the LCD display located where it is.

My thoughts on the project:
I think the feedback makes sense. The interaction needs to be further developed to either give it more of a creature feel, and to make it fun. I don't want to hit people over the head with facts and figures they don't want to read. Initially, somewhat as a joke, I came up with Jenny Holzer idea of having the truisms scroll along the side of the can. But, I abandoned it, thinking the stuff would be read more as an ambient display/sculpture. I thought people wouldn't see it when they go to throw something out. We moved the LCD panel to the top, to the lid, thinking they'd read the facts and figures when they throw something out. This might not be the correct notion. In reality, throwing something out is a pretty instantaneous act, and people might not be bothered to stop and read it then. If it is more of an ambient display as originally conceived, it might have a more realistic chance of seeping into our minds. I do need to properly flush out the behaviour, and work on the physical design of the object. This will probably be my feel good pet project I'll continue to work on.