“The World Cup may be over for another four years, but that doesn’t stop my wife yelling ‘goal!’ every time she throws something in the bin. Except she’s a worse shot than Nicolai Jørgensen,” says Will Junker. “We end up with mounds of wayward rubbish – definitely a foul situation, and the penalty is mine: I have to pick it up. Can tech referee this match?”
England fans may have cheered “football’s coming home”, but I don’t think they meant turning their kitchens into playing fields. You might not be able to break your wife out of this habit, but you can move the goalposts to give her the best chance of a winning shot.
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A net atop your bin is no good – teabags and other soggy missiles could get stuck. My next thought was a big target and funnel, like the oversized bins you find at fast food drive-throughs. But that leaves your rubbish uncovered and free to waft – more suited to car parks than kitchens.
What’s needed is a helping hand. A sheet of heat-mouldable plastic can easily be fashioned into a makeshift mitt. This covers the bin when not in use, and can lift up to act as a large backboard when scoring. I added a couple of servo motors flanking the hinges – attack and defence. One pulls a string that winches up the lid, the second gives it a kick in the other direction so it swings closed.
Now for a way to signal that you are ready to shoot. Like the best team players, I opted to rely on shouting to my nearest teammate – in this case, Alexa.
Recruiting Alexa required a bit of tinkering. I turned to a web service called IFTTT, which links internet-connected devices. Now when I tell Alexa to open the bin, she relays this instruction to a website. A Wi-Fi-connected microcontroller attached to the servos constantly checks that site to see if Alexa has left it any messages and, if so, tells the motors to get moving.
You are limited in part by how fast your internet is. On slower connections you might want to shout for the bin before you have finished brewing your tea.
Just one bug remains: when I sink a winning shot, I’ve still not convinced Alexa to join in my goal celebrations.
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