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Push the Talking Trash Can is a radio-controlled robot which makes daily rounds throughout Tomorrowland at Disneyland and Disney California Adventure Park, Hong Kong Disneyland park, Disneyland Paris, Tokyo Disneyland in Japan and formerly The Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World.
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PUSH was created by Daniel Deutsch, and entertained guests at The Magic Kingdom from February 1995-February 2014, and at one point 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, designed and staffed by a local robotic entertainment company,"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
Pipa is the recycling container version at Disney's Animal Kingdom. Pipa means "container" in Swahili, fitting the Animal Kingdom theme. The bin’s regular steel liner hides the radio control system and plastic trash bag should a guest peer inside.
Pipa the talking trash can bin exists at Disney's Animal Kingdom in the Rafiki's Planet Watch themed area and tries to encourage guests to recycle.
The Dutch theme park De Efteling in Kaatsheuvel has from 1958 similar recycling bins named and designed after the fairy tale character of Hollow Bulging Gijs (Holle Bolle Gijs), a young boy that always shouts for 'more food', and sucks up garbage thrown into his mouth.
There is also Wes Palm a talking Palm Tree, located at the front entrance to Disney's Animal Kingdom.