one device with obvious commercial potential is a robot rubbish bin that can tour places like fast-food restaurants, soliciting trash. This was invented by wendy ju and david sirkin, of Stanford university. Tests have shown it to be popular with customers. The orbot approaches a table and winggles on the spot to gain attention. people quickly get the idea of what they are supposed to do, and respond accordingly- even looking around for extra rubbish to food the robot.