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3 min read

⚙️ A Waste Bin Valued $372M

Plus: Bag Gets Feelings, A Stove With Judgment

Hi, The Hardwirers!

Everyday objects are being re-priced, re-designed, and re-imagined as intelligent products, where software, emotion, and automation now matter as much as hardware itself.

HOME TECH

A Waste Bin Engineered Like an Appliance

Mill’s redesigned food-waste bin is an electric dehydration and grinding system that turns daily scraps into clean, dry grounds overnight. It accepts nearly all kitchen leftovers, uses controlled heat and mechanical augers to break them down, and produces a stable output that can be used in soil or shipped back for feed processing. It looks like a bin, but it behaves like a compact, automated waste-treatment device built for homes without reliable compost options. The company behind it now sits at an estimated $372 million valuation.

The switch to vertical augers, a full-metal heated bucket, quieter airflow, and ML-tuned drying cycles finally fixes the two failures of the first generation: noise and inconsistent runtimes. Real-world data lets the system optimize for mixed, unpredictable food loads, while dual humidity sensing prevents over- or under-drying. The result is a unit that runs overnight, avoids odors, and simplifies disposal far beyond what any passive compost bin can offer.

It is a rare case where incremental mechanical and software corrections unlock a meaningfully better product. For households without curbside composting or patience for odors, Mill’s latest bin is a genuinely elegant and practical solution.

FASHION

When Your Bag Gets Feelings

Mirumi is a palm-sized robotic bag charm from Japan’s Yukai Engineering, the team behind “lifestyle robots” like Qoobo. It’s a furry, sound- and touch-reactive creature that moves its head as if it’s alive, marketed as a screen-free emotional companion rather than another collectible trinket.

Under the fluff is a disciplined micro-mechatronic system: dual sound sensors, a touch sensor, and a custom behavior algorithm that drives non-repetitive head movements. The result is motion that feels spontaneous rather than programmed, proving that personality can be expressed through mechanics instead of pixels. It pushes low-cost emotional robotics closer to everyday objects and makes Tamagotchi look flat-screen obsolete.

Mirumi blurs the line between toy and social robot, proving that affective design does not need a display or data link. It’s a subtle triumph of mechanical empathy, though whether people want their bag charms to feel “alive” remains an open experiment in attachment.

HOME TECH

A Robot That Cooks Like It Knows Better

Posha is a countertop robot built to automate one-pot cooking. You chop and load ingredients into four bins, choose a recipe on its touchscreen, and it handles everything else with an induction burner, a camera, and a motorized stirring arm. It is essentially a compact, cloud-guided cooking cell designed to replace the hour you normally spend hovering over a stove.

Its real muscle is closed-loop control as computer vision tracks color and viscosity while the cooktop and arm self-correct heat, timing, and agitation. That finally brings industrial-style repeatability to curries, risottos, and sauces that normally punish inattention. Despite its size, cloud dependence, and subscription, the autonomy it delivers is meaningful for anyone juggling work, kids, or long days.

A promising first wave of home kitchen robotics that offers genuine time savings and reliable results. If you can live with the footprint and ecosystem, it feels less like a gadget and more like added bandwidth in the household.

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