Update: Bruno creator Jim Howard said in August that he was signing a new manufacturing contract in two weeks and would update on Kickstarter when that happened. The company’s last post there is from May – nothing since. The Bruno is still taking pre-orders on its site, and now promises to ship in December.
The project is a great example of why crowdfunded projects take longer than expected to arrive — and sometimes don’t arrive at all.
Here’s our original article on the Kickstarter project from April of 2015:
As everything in your kitchen gets the smart-home makeover, it seems the time has finally come for trash cans to have their moment. A recently launched Indiegogo campaign for a smart garbage can features a device that not only scans items and adds them to your grocery list but notifies you when the trash is full.
It seems there’s room enough in the crowdfunding world for two connected trash devices. While the GeniCan is something you actually attach to your existing can, the Bruno is a whole new bin that has a few features your plastic receptacle from Target doesn’t. It has a built-in vacuum device that sucks up debris as you sweep it turn the can, eliminating the need for a dustpan.
As you push your pile of crumbs, dog hair, and Cheerios toward the can, its built-in sensor triggers the vacuum’s suction, which sucks the detritus inside the Bruno and along tubes under the can and then inside the wall, and from there everything is dumped into the trash bag. The 13-gallon can runs for 30 days on its battery and will also have an accompanying app that can remind you when it’s garbage day and to reorder “custom-fitted” bags when you’re running low. The Bruno works with everyday trash bags, but the company’s kind, which will apparently cost the same as other brands’, fit in a special compartment in the can.
Jim Howard and Lori Montag created the Bruno; they’re the team that brought you Zanybandz (the rubber band bracelets that take the form of animals and other shapes when off the wrist) and a slap bracelet that’s also a watch. It seems they’ve branched out beyond tween jewelry crazes and into the smart home.
Right now, the team is raising funds on Kickstarter. Early birds can get the vacuum-can for $139, a significant discount of its expected retail price of $229.
