From the home of the three minute pizza machine comes a robotic, tireless garbage collector. Called the Dustbot, it stands almost as tall as a man and is designed to navigate the narrow streets of Italy, where a boxy garbage truck wouldn't fit.

The Dustbot also trumps the garbage truck (in theory), as it can be summoned to your door at any time through your cell. This eliminates the need for a standardized route and, with enough Dustbots out on the street, trash wouldn't be sitting out on the curb for all that long. It's easy to imagine this going horribly wrong, but it's an interesting approach to trash collection, and it's a definite advantage when it comes to robotic trash collection.

It's got a gyroscope that gives it the same bouncy uprightness a Segway enjoys, and uses GPS navigation to pick its routes. Click Continue to see a video of the Dustbot doing its thing.

BBC, via Geekologie