As smart technology spreads to our home appliances, items we never could have imagined are beginning to get the “smart” treatment. Case in point, the trash can. With “serial inventors” Jim Howard and Lori Montag’s new bruno smartcan, the trash can is getting a major upgrade. By syncing with your phone, bruno will alert you when to take out the trash (based on your local trash collection day), when you’re out of trash bags, and will even help your order new bags on your phone. The bruno smartcan uses motion technology in order to create a hands-free lid. And perhaps most impressively, the bruno smartcan has a vacuum at its base, effectively eliminating the need for a dustpan. Since its Kickstarter launched on April 29th, over $89,400 has been pledged and news outlets like Fast Company and CNET have written about it.

Learn more about bruno on its Kickstarter page and see one in action.

What Spark Our Fire: Creatively reimagining the most mundane household items with smart technology