Playful Punishment for Messy People

Of course, as a professional cleaner you conduct yourself with decorum on the job. But if you’ve ever come across an especially messy office, school, or facility, you’ve probably thought to yourself it would be satisfying to get back at the people who created such a mess—without harming them of course. If you’ve ever had these thoughts, you’ll enjoy hearing about an invention a college student in Germany created to get back at his messy dorm mates.

The student used a 3-D printer to create parts for a robotic turret that fires little plastic balls at anyone who leaves stray items laying around, Hackaday reports. The system includes “clutter sensors” that are placed in strategic locations around a building to detect stray objects, like trash and clothing, on the ground or strewn over furniture. WiFi will alert the main system if the sensors detect any of these items. The turret will then search for any people in the vicinity of the clutter and fire away.

The turret can swivel around on its access and tilt up and down to get better aim at its target. It tracks its target using a camera-based object sensor that recognizes humans.

Although it may be tempting to make your own turret and bring it along to your next job, your supervisor may not agree. Best to use it at home to get back at any messy spouses, children, or roommates.