Supplies

I used Tinkercad and a pencil/paper to create this.

Step 1: Thinking

The first thing I did to create this design was think about a problem in my community that I wanted to help solve. I live in San Francisco and was walking when I noticed a lot of trash on the ground near a garbage can. A couple weeks earlier I had been in Healdsburg, where I noticed that there wasn't nearly as much litter. I wanted San Francisco, a beautiful city, to be just as lovely as Healdsburg. So this is a first step. Questions to ask yourself when coming up with an idea for a design:

What is a problem I see in my community?
Can I solve this with an invention?
What needs to be fixed – how can I fix it?
What is something bothersome that I would like a gadget/invention for to make it easier?

Make a list and decide from one of the options.

Step 2: Sketching

The image is of my next step, which was sketching out my vision of the garbage can. It can pick up trash from the ground and it also has holes in which people can put their garbage into it. It has a face to give people nice messages (which wasn't necessary, but I liked it). When you're doing this step, make sure to include everything! You can write notes, too.

Step 3: 3D Modeling

The next step I did was transferring my sketch to Tinkercad, an online 3D modeling tool. This step was probably the most difficult, so you should take your time! Make sure to incorporate all the details. The frog in the this image represents garbage (not that frogs are garbage, they're very nice animals and I have nothing against them, which is precisely why I added a frog instead of any other animal)

I decided not to include my process in Tinkercad for this because I think that you should have an original idea – one that's all yours. Of course, you can try to do mine, too, but there might be a bigger problem in your community that you could use instead!

Step 4: 3D Printing

The last step, which I do not plan on doing but could be entertaining and good for you, would be 3D printing your Tinkercad design using a 3D printer.

For me, the last step was entering this contest!