Robo-bin

Like the Moto-Bin (see above), this is a motorised wheelie-bin, except not remote control, but completely autonomous. Normally it sits quietly in its parking bay at your back door, trickle-charging its internal batteries. At a programmed time on a set day of the week (usually, but with holiday corrections, which might be broadcast over a local radio data channel) it trundles itself down to the kerbside, where it awaits emptying by the binmen. Once emptied (simple mercury switch to detect that it has been inverted), it homes back in on your gateway, and returns to its parking bay. If you have electrically operated gates, it has an optional interface to open and close them as it passes through. Further advantage is that if anyone steals it, it can return home by itself.