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"There's a tendency to think that maybe if we can just throw enough hardware at the AI problem, then evolution can take care of the rest. Certainly that's how God went about making us."
- Rudy Rucker

Robot Trash Collectors  
  Robots that drive and operate garbage trucks.  

Carl had always known there were garbage trucks, but of course he had never seen one. It was a bulky, shining cylinder over twenty metres long. A robot driver was built into the cab. Thirty other robots stood on foot-steps along the sides.

The supervisor led the way to the rear of the truck and pointed to the gaping mouth of the receiving bin.

"Robots pick up the garbage and junk and load it in there," he said. "Then they press one of these here thirteen buttons keying whatever they have dumped into one of the thirteen bins inside the truck. They're just plain lifting robots and not too brainy..."

Technovelgy from The Velvet Glove, by Harry Harrison.
Published by Fantastic Universe in 1956
Additional resources -

Compare to the high tech trash can from Islands in the Net (1988) by Bruce Sterling and to the garbage device from The Age of The Pussyfoot (1966), by Frederik Pohl.

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Additional resources:
  More Ideas and Technology from The Velvet Glove
  More Ideas and Technology by Harry Harrison
  Tech news articles related to The Velvet Glove
  Tech news articles related to works by Harry Harrison

Robot Trash Collectors-related news articles:
  - Robot-Based Trash Collection
  - Robot Garbage Trucks Visualized
  - Tesla's Optimus Robot Now Sorts Objects (I've Got A Job In Mind)

Articles related to Robotics
Robot Hand Separate From Robot
Is Optimus Autonomous Or Teleoperated?
Robot Masseuse Rubs People The Right Way
Optimus Robot Can Charge Itself

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