Trash-Bot

[Pooh Bear]

As in "Bangers & mash", British (not so haute) cusine:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bangers_and_mash

Apparently (I don't see anything definitive on it) bangers are
so-called because they were made of particularly poor quality
ingredients during WWII and tended to pop when cooked. J. Woodgate
would know for sure, but I hesitate to add sci.lang.translation to the
list.

Yes, I reckon a 'banger' would be a poor example.

There are some absolutely fabulous sausages around these days. A favouite of
mine is pork and apple.

Some of the finest sausages are traditionally made locally. We used to have here
a combination 'wet fish shop' and game butcher. They made some remarkable
sauasges containing all manner of exotic ingrediaents and had numerous awards on
display. Sadly the demand for such shops ahs been in decline as supermarkets
offer a wider range of produce and it's now closed.

Sauage and mash is great comfort food btw and a 'pub-fare' classic !

Graham

 

[kell]

Others have discouraged you because of potential problems with

pedestrians, theft, directional stability or traction in adverse weather
conditions. These are the very same objections raised at the turn of
the 20th century when automobiles were introduced. Given the 100+ year
success of the automobile perhaps those objections are not
insurmountable!

Success in the eye of the beholder.
"Potential problems with pedestrians" means tens of thousands dead
every year in the U.S. I have no idea the worldwide toll. Yeah, cars
are great. If you had any other product that killed as many people as
cars do, it would be off the market in a heartbeat.
Drive your fat American ass to McDonald's and honk at some of those
pesky pedestrians along the way.

 

[ironfly]

Is your suggestion that his idea is stupid, or are you simply envious
of American ingenuity? Americans have ALWAYS found more creative and
productive ways of doing things; even if it means building robots to do
simple tasks to save time. Your racist view of Americans and their
culture is uneducated and unfounded. Yes, many American's are
overweight. This is because most work 10 hour days, do not eat right,
and only have one week of holiday a year. This leaves little time for
taking care of oneself.

I think the author has a wonderful idea, and I hope he markets his idea
and becomes a millionaire by selling the technologies that come out
this. Maybe then, he could open a factory in your country, where you
can work for him on an assembly line.

 

[BruceR]

Having a bad day Kell?

Good or bad, and I'm not judging which it is, automobiles have been a
success from the standpoint of sales and marketing - the benchmark of
commercial success, which is what an inventor would most likely be
concerned with. I don't why you would think that I consider pedestrians
to be "pesky" as I am often one myself or how you would know how fat my
ass is (would you like a photo?) but beauty is, as you say, in the eyes
of the beholder. While I don't eat at McDonalds, it too is a commercial
success. McDonalds biggest growth area - as well as the automobile's for
that matter - is in countries OTHER than the USA. This trend shows that
the ROW seems to want to emulate the USA. BTW, I have a number of UK
friends, all of whom fall into two categories; the ones who have
emmigrated to the US and the ones that want to.

One has to wonder why anyone, other than a Usenet Troll, who is so
adamantly opposed to an automation product concept like a robot would be
lurking in an automation newsgroup.


From:kell
[email protected]

 

[Rob]

I don't know about a breathing machine, but it's obvious that a great
number of Brits haven't taken up the electric toothbrush in droves - or
even the manual version for that matter! ...and then there's nothing
quite as healthy as warm beer and bangers to keep the ol' ticker
ticking.

What worries me is that our English migrants in Oz refer to public swimming
pools as "public baths". Doesn't translate too well.

 

[Michael A. Terrell]

If you can lob it that far, you can stop paying the garbage service
altogether. And you don't even have to hit the truck.

Actually, there is almost no garbage generated here at my house.
With my special diet for Diabetes and my high blood pressure I have to
eat very controlled meals. that means that it can take over a month to
fill a single trash can. I recycle the tin cans and plastic bottles, so
I make a trip to the transfer station every three or four weeks to drop
them off, and dump the trash can. This way it cost me under a dollar a
month to get rid of everything, including cardboard boxes and the bare
computer chassis that have been stripped for parts.

--
Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I've got my DD214 to
prove it.
Member of DAV #85.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida

 

[Pooh Bear]

While I don't eat at McDonalds, it too is a commercial
success.

I guess that the obesity it often causes can be considered a comnercial
succes for the medical industry too !

Commercial success dosn't mean something's automatically *good* !

Graham

 

[BruceR]

I didn't claim that it does. The OP wants to invent something that will
be commercially viable and useful to some segment of the population. Who
are we to pass judgement on whether it's "good for you?"

BTW, McDonalds does not "cause obesity." PEOPLE overeating and making
poor dietetic choices causes obesity. McDonalds never claimed to be a
health food store!


Fromooh Bear
[email protected]

 

[Richard the Dreaded Libertarian]

I guess that the obesity it often causes can be considered a comnercial
succes for the medical industry too !

Commercial success dosn't mean something's automatically *good* !

Graham

Democracy's kinda like that - it doesn't matter how wrong you are, as
long as you have a lot of company. ;-)

Cheers!
Rich

 

[Michael A. Terrell]

I guess that the obesity it often causes can be considered a comnercial
succes for the medical industry too !

Commercial success dosn't mean something's automatically *good* !

Graham

No, you bigoted euro-id10t. A lot of overweight people had medical
problems first. This limits their physical activity. If you simply
reduce the calories in the diet, your body thinks you are starving and
will digest muscle tissue instead of fat. I had high blood pressure and
circulation problems long before I put on any extra weight. I eat as
little as I can, and walk as much as i can, but I still have a weight
problem. If I eat any less than my prescribed diet I get quite ill and
spend a lot of time in bed because I can no longer walk. Read a little
about the problem instead of damming an entire nation.


--
Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I've got my DD214 to
prove it.
Member of DAV #85.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida

 

[Fred Bloggs]

No, you bigoted euro-id10t. A lot of overweight people had medical
problems first. This limits their physical activity. If you simply
reduce the calories in the diet, your body thinks you are starving and
will digest muscle tissue instead of fat. I had high blood pressure and
circulation problems long before I put on any extra weight. I eat as
little as I can, and walk as much as i can, but I still have a weight
problem. If I eat any less than my prescribed diet I get quite ill and
spend a lot of time in bed because I can no longer walk. Read a little
about the problem instead of damming an entire nation.

Right, it all has to do with your health status. I consume an estimated
6,000 calories per day and remain on the lean side because I can
metabolize that amount and the diet is basically sound nutritionally. If
I ate less I would become lethargic and begin storing fat.

 

[Pooh Bear]

No, you bigoted euro-id10t. A lot of overweight people had medical
problems first. This limits their physical activity. If you simply
reduce the calories in the diet, your body thinks you are starving and
will digest muscle tissue instead of fat. I had high blood pressure and
circulation problems long before I put on any extra weight. I eat as
little as I can, and walk as much as i can, but I still have a weight
problem. If I eat any less than my prescribed diet I get quite ill and
spend a lot of time in bed because I can no longer walk. Read a little
about the problem instead of damming an entire nation.

So why is obesity so particularly evident in the USA ?


Graham

 

[Robert Green]

So why is obesity so particularly evident in the USA ?

After our failed attempt to retake Cuba in the 60's, we embargoed the island
and its sugar. Americans were switched to a diet high in "natural"
sweeteners made from corn syrup. Some research is beginning to indicate it
may not have been a one-to-one replacement for sugar. In fact,
high-fructose corn syrup may act more like fat than sugar in the body:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A8003-2003Mar10?language=printer

[registration required :-( ]

Fair use snippet: "Fructose is a different story. It "appears to behave more
like fat with respect to the hormones involved in body weight regulation,"
explains Peter Havel, associate professor of nutrition at the University of
California, Davis. "Fructose doesn't stimulate insulin secretion. It doesn't
increase leptin production or suppress production of ghrelin. That suggests
that consuming a lot of fructose, like consuming too much fat, could
contribute to weight gain." Whether it actually does do this is not known
"because the studies have not been conducted," said Havel."

All of this stuff's long-term effects have never really been studied in any
detail. Other studies implicate it in a process called "pancreatic
burnout."

I'm willing to bet the public cost of consuming corn syrup will dwarf
tobacco's. American kids eat it from birth.

 

[Nehmo]

Narrowing down the conditions in order to get a firm specification
description, I'll go with...

Shape, Base vehicle:
I might as well use something like this wagon:
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=38137
Or this one with a wood deck
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=37320

But I was thinking along the line of something a bit bigger than those
wagons. Perhaps just mounting a box on one of those wagons would work.

However, I can ignore the box vertical dimension in the prototype. The
prototype would be just be a flat piece of ¾" plywood 35" x 60"
divided into three sections, the 10" front equipment section, the 40"
cargo section, and the rear 10" equipment section. The equipment
sections would both be 10 inches wide. In other words, the 60" length
of the plywood is divided into 10"+40"+10" sections.

Front equipment section: containing the front viewing camera, steering
servo and steering mechanism.

Rear equipment section: To the rear of the bed would be the battery and
the drive motor & gearbox.

Material:
Aluminum; however, plywood would do for a working prototype.

Size:
12 inches high, (but prototype is flat)
35 inches wide overall, by
60 inches in overall length

Path:
For simplicity, the bot will drive one-way only on an elliptical track.
There will be two parking positions:
One will be the primary work station (Home), where it docks with the
recharger and is in a position to receive cargo from the household,
plastic garbage bags. Coupling with the recharger is inductive.
The second parking position (the Curb), would be by the curb where the
trash gets picked up. We'll use bags to avoid the problem of the
garbage men dealing with cans.

The positioning is controlled by time alone. Most of the time, the bot
is at Home. On garbage day, it moves to the Curb, stays there all day,
and then returns Home.

Physical Path indicator:
In this initial model, we'll paint a white line down the center of the
path. The path will be lit by regular photocell-controlled flood
lights.

Steering control...
....is accomplished by a video system using a regular UPS-connected
camera attached to a computer running Windows XP and some software

It would be nice if everything, the steering mechanism, and the drive
mechanism be controlled via USB port connections.

Drive:
Only one wheel is motorized for traction. And the speed is very slow,
perhaps a couple miles per hour.

Power
Everything is operated on a 12 Volt DC system provided by a standard
car battery. Recharging is via an inductive coupling at Home.

 

[Michael A. Terrell]

So why is obesity so particularly evident in the USA ?

Graham

You make it sound like everyone in the US os overweight.

I used to be on a 3300 to 3500 calorie a day diet. These days it
ranges from 1500 to 1800 calories. Any less and I get so weak I can
barely get out of bed. I made a mistake and listened to a VA doctor and
TRIED to go on his prescribed 1100 calorie a day diet. It put me in bed
for several weeks. I went back to the diet I had worked out for myself
and started feeling better. I actually put on over 10 pounds while on
the 1100 calorie diet, because I couldn't do anything and my body
thought I was starving.

When I finally saw a VA dietitian she looked at my menus, with full
details on calories, fat, vitamins and minerals. She looked them over
and told me to add a half a glass of orange juice and not to change
anything else. She asked where and how I came up with the diet. I told
her that I had experimented with different foods to find what made me
feel the best, and still met the other requirements. A lot of my
favorite foods are now only eaten on one of the two meals a month that I
allow myself to eat what I want, and not watch the portions so closely.
If I overdo it one one of those meals I can't eat breakfast the next
day, and sometimes lunch before I feel hungry. When that happens I eat
just enough to take my medication for diabetes and high blood pressure.
You can't take them without food in the stomach.

BTW, I have been on International Drive in Orlando quite a few times
and from what I saw, we are not the only ones with weight problems. It
is an area full of discount and factory outlet stores where there are a
lot more foreign tourists than locals. From what I saw, I think that
the tour bus company and car rental agencies should have charged them by
the pound. It was kind of funny watching someone jabbering in a foreign
language while they had a half dozen cameras bouncing off their big gut.


--
Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I've got my DD214 to
prove it.
Member of DAV #85.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida

 

[Bill Kearney]

I want to do something similiar. But I wanted the bot to leave it at the

curb. And getting the can off itself and onto the curb seemed too hard.

Don't bother. Just automate the can or a carrier. The downside, of course,
would be getting the trash guys to leave the damned thing upright so it
could return to storage. Somehow robotwars comes to mind with automatic
righting devices.

I don't think it'd be all that good an idea to attach the motor/carrier
directly to a can. The way they smack around the cans would wreak havoc on
any sort of motorized assembly.

Better to leave the cans separate and try to find ways to encourage them
being put back into the carrier. If you're dealing with being disabled it
might be reasonable to ask the guys on the truck and/or the dispatch office
to help a little more than usual. No guarantees, of course, and not all
areas have cooperative personnel. But it'd be worth asking.

-Bill Kearney

 

[Richard Henry]

Don't bother. Just automate the can or a carrier. The downside, of course,
would be getting the trash guys to leave the damned thing upright so it
could return to storage. Somehow robotwars comes to mind with automatic
righting devices.

Whatever happened to Robot Wars on TV? Was it overwhelmed by clebrity
poker?

 

[BruceR]

Since trash cans are ususally tapered a carrier with basketball hoop
style rings would only allow the cans to be placed upright.

From:Bill Kearney
[email protected]

 

[ehsjr]

Don't bother. Just automate the can or a carrier. The downside, of course,
would be getting the trash guys to leave the damned thing upright so it
could return to storage. Somehow robotwars comes to mind with automatic
righting devices.

I don't think it'd be all that good an idea to attach the motor/carrier
directly to a can. The way they smack around the cans would wreak havoc on
any sort of motorized assembly.

Better to leave the cans separate and try to find ways to encourage them
being put back into the carrier. If you're dealing with being disabled it
might be reasonable to ask the guys on the truck and/or the dispatch office
to help a little more than usual. No guarantees, of course, and not all
areas have cooperative personnel. But it'd be worth asking.

-Bill Kearney

I don't think it's that hard. Put it on a flat bed small wheel
slow moving bot. When the bot gets to position, a jack screw
raises one end of the bed, creating a ramp. A push arm slides the
can(s) to the ground. The bot goes back to it's loaction at the
house, leaving teh cans behind. When empty, the disabled person
has a better ability to bring them back him/herself. Alternatively,
the bot and the person both go to the empty can, the person loads
it on the bot, and the bot rolls it back. Obviously the degree/
type of disability could prevent the problem. But for those who
just can't carry a loaded can, some form of mechanized aid
similar to what's being discussed may be practical.

What I don't see as viable is leaving the bot "out there"
for thieves/vandals enjoyment.

Ed

 

[Nehmo]

The can problem could be eliminated if we use bags, which require no
returning elements. In fact, if bags alone are the cargo, a dump cart
wouldn't be hard to make. In that arrangement, the bot wouldn't have to
wait at the curb because the bot is only delivering, that is, driving
to the Curb, dumping, and then returning Home.