At an office in San Francisco， if you drop a coffee cup in a robotic waste bin， the machine will automatically sort the cup for recycling.

The office is one of the first to use the technology， called TrashBot， from a startup called CleanRobotics that is trying to solve a fundamental challenge in recycling： Even when someone is diligently trying to reduce waste， theres a good chance theyre recycling wrong.

“The idea was really born out of frustration，” says Charles Yhap， cofounder and CEO of CleanRobotics.

He points to the example of a store like Whole Foods， where anyone who eats at the salad bar then has to figure out which bin to use for their fork and box and cup.

“Ill eat my food and I go to throw something away and Im confronted with an array of waste bins， and its just so confusing—everywhere I go， the rules are slightly different， and Im still not sure that Im doing it correctly.”

He thought that technology could help. “We started looking at the diminishing costs of sensors and robotic components and the increasing accessibility of algorithms and AI systems and we thought， maybe we can build something that does this better than people，” he says.

“It helped that current bins are already expensive—a single set in an airport might cost $1，200. These are just shiny metal tubes that dont do anything for you. So we thought we could build a robot that is price competitive and adds a ton more value.”

Thanks to the new technology， next time you go to a market， you may not feel confused again about which dustbin you should choose.

在舊金山的一間辦公室里，如果你把咖啡杯扔進(jìn)機(jī)器人垃圾桶里，它就會自動把杯子分到可回收垃圾里。

這間辦公室是第一批使用TrashBot（智能垃圾分類機(jī)器人）技術(shù)的，它是初創(chuàng)公司CleanRobotics的產(chǎn)品，旨在解決回收中最基本的問題：即使一個(gè)人想盡量減少浪費(fèi)，但他們也很有可能放錯(cuò)分類。

CleanRobotics公司的聯(lián)合創(chuàng)始人兼首席執(zhí)行官查爾斯·雅普說：“這個(gè)想法真的是無奈之舉?！?/p>

他以Whole Foods（一家美國超市）這樣的商家為例，在那里的沙拉吧就餐的人需要弄清楚他們的叉子、盒子和杯子要扔進(jìn)哪個(gè)垃圾桶。

“我吃完東西去扔垃圾時(shí)，面前有一排垃圾桶，我就懵了。我去的所有地方分類規(guī)則都會有一些差異，我都不確定我扔得對不對?！?/p>

他認(rèn)為這項(xiàng)技術(shù)會有所幫助。他說：“我們先是發(fā)現(xiàn)傳感器和機(jī)器人部件成本下降，算法和人工智能系統(tǒng)的可達(dá)性提高，所以我們認(rèn)為可以做出在垃圾分類方面比人類做得好的產(chǎn)品。”

“對我們有利的是現(xiàn)在垃圾桶都很貴，飛機(jī)場的一套垃圾桶就要1200美元。那些只是有光澤的金屬桶，什么都做不了。所以我們想我們能做出一個(gè)機(jī)器人，價(jià)位合適，而且用處很大?！?/p>

多虧了新技術(shù)，下次你去市場時(shí)，或許就不會對應(yīng)將垃圾扔進(jìn)哪個(gè)垃圾桶感到困惑了。

startup /'stɑ?t?p/ n. 新興公司（尤指新興網(wǎng)絡(luò)公司）

fundamental /'f?nd?'mentl/ adj. 基礎(chǔ)的;基本的

confusing /k?n'fju?z??/ adj. 難以理解的;不清楚的

The instructions on the box are very confusing.