The CAN-non

Have you ever really wanted to shoot a soft ball at a 7up CAN? Probably not. But with "The CAN-non", you CAN!

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Where it all began

It is commonly known that empty drink cans are one of the most easily forgotten pieces of trash to throw away; they are constantly left lying around collecting dust until eventually, someone gathers enough motivation to dispose of them. So, what did we do with such a problem? ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! What is more enjoyable than making a robot that has zero purpose, is utterly useless, and contributes to absolutely nothing? Well, let us confidently answer this query by introducing The CAN-non!

What it does

The CAN-non serves to do nothing except launch a projectile at a specific type of soda can. It uses a camera to detect what soda can is targeted and accurately proceeds to eliminate it from existence. Well, not really because that would imply it being useful, which it totally is NOT!

How we built it

This irrelevant piece of art was created using cardboard, 3D printers, and electronics along with blood and tears for how painful it was to create such a peripheral gimmick. An internal spur gear, attached to a stepper motor, was used to rotate the cannon a total of 359 degrees (360 would've been too cool), while a servo adjusted the launch angle. Projectiles are stored in a vertical component waiting to be ejected one by one with the use of a tire launcher! How practical.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

With absolute certainty, we can proudly say we disappointed almost every, entrepreneur, inventor, or creative thinker with how useless something like this is. However, all jokes aside, it was enjoyable to see this project through from the beginning to the end. Spending many continuous hours facing the many challenges we ran into demonstrated our overall perseverance and determination to put in our best effort.

What we learned

Collectively, our biggest takeaways were just to try and enjoy building a unique project while taking in as much information to further advance our skills. Although it was an extremely competitive environment, it was nice to take a step back and have fun with peers whilst learning from each other's areas of excellence!

What's next for The CAN-non

Hopefully, before The CAN-non either gets buried deep in a pile of trash or conversely, makes world headlines for its brilliance, it can serve as a lesson that not all inventions have to serve to have a purpose. If everything that was ever created was flawless on its first design cycle, we would not be as advanced as a society as we are today. It is crucial to recognize the importance of learning from imperfections and building off of our mistakes!

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