The SyncTrash system consists of a pair of trash boxes with servo motors, pushon foot switches, PCs, and a Web server. The servo motor is equipped at the side of a trash box for opening/closing the lid, and is connected to a computer with a PhidgetServo device. The foot switch is also connected to the computer with a Phidget Interface Kit. When a person presses the foot switch, a program on the PC opens the lid of the trash box by activating the servo motor. Next, the program sends the state of the trash box (open/close) to a CGI program on the web server. Then, the PC program in the other house detects the state by polling the web server, and opens the trash box in the same way. Thus, once a person opens the lid of his/her trash box, the lid of the other distant trash box opens as well.
Source: Tsujita, H., Siio, I., and Tsukada, K. 2007. SyncDecor: Appliances for Sharing Mutual Awareness between Lovers Separated by Distance. In Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI’07). ACM Press, 2699–2704.
http://lab.siio.jp/index.php?SyncDecor
