engineering

Push the Talking Trash Can

Push the Talking Trash Can is a engineering topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Push the Talking Trash Can rather than just read about it. In short: Push the Talking Trash Can was a radio-controlled robot which made daily rounds throughout Tomorrowland at Disneyland and Disney California Adventure Park, Disneyland Paris, Tokyo Disneyland in Japan and formerly the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World. He still makes daily rounds at Hong Kong Disneyland park.

Key takeaways

Push the Talking Trash Can belongs to engineering; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Push the Talking Trash Can to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Push the Talking Trash Can from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Push the Talking Trash Can was a radio-controlled robot which made daily rounds throughout Tomorrowland at Disneyland and Disney California Adventure Park, Disneyland Paris, Tokyo Disneyland in Japan and formerly the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World. He still makes daily rounds at Hong Kong Disneyland park. PUSH was created by Daniel Deutsch, and entertained guests at the Magic Kingdom from February 1995 to February 2014. At one point, the robot was the focus of a grass roots effort to elect him as "Mayor of Tomorrowland". PUSH's Registered Trademark was originally applied for in 1996, then was renewed by Deutsch's company "Real Simple Ideas, LLC." On February 10, 2014, despite a social media campaign particularly on Twitter using the hashtag "#savePUSH", Push the Talking Trash Can was retired at Walt Disney World.

Mechanics The robot is puppeteered by a single operator in plain clothes. The transmitter is hidden inside a shoulder strapped gym bag, while the microphone is held at the mouth of the puppeteer, concealed in the hand. The robot contains a voice processor which changes the operator's voice to a high-pitched, nasal register. Since the operator is so close to the robot, Push can interact directly with guests. The robot is propelled with the transmission, wheels and tires of a custom based robot. It was staffed by a local robotic entertainment company named Real Simple Ideas under contract with Disney. Disney has extended the technique and technology to Audio-Animatronic characters such as the Muppet Mobile Lab, Lucky the Dinosaur, and WALL-E.

Similar robots

A recycling bin version of Push (named Pipa) used to be found at Disney's Animal Kingdom in the Rafiki's Planet Watch area. Pipa meant "container" in Swahili, fitting the Animal Kingdom theme. The bin's regular steel liner hid the radio control system, a plastic trash bag over it on the inside. Wes Palm was a talking Palm Tree located at the front entrance to Disney's Animal Kingdom. Since 1958, the Dutch theme park De Efteling in Kaatsheuvel has had similar recycling bins named and designed after the fairy tale character Hollow Bulging Gijs (Holle Bolle Gijs), a young boy who continuously shouts for "more food" and sucks up garbage thrown into his mouth.

See also Lucky the Dinosaur Muppet Mobile Lab

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Push the Talking Trash Can

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Push the Talking Trash Can claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In engineering, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Push the Talking Trash Can before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Push the Talking Trash Can ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Push the Talking Trash Can

In research: Push the Talking Trash Can appears in engineering research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Push the Talking Trash Can in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Push the Talking Trash Can is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1995 robots, Characters of the Disney theme parks, Disney California Adventure, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Push the Talking Trash Can outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Ask Teacher Smith questions about this articleOpens your AI tutor with a question about “Push the Talking Trash Can” →

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Push the Talking Trash Can in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Push the Talking Trash Can means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Push the Talking Trash Can out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Push the Talking Trash Can in simple terms?

Why does Push the Talking Trash Can matter?

Because it connects several engineering ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Push the Talking Trash Can?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Push the Talking Trash Can.