Comment by coder543

Getting into the self-balancing state with a standard wheeled trashcan would require a large initial torque, more than enough to tip over the trashcan. There's no "moving slowly" when that's involved... either the control algorithm and motor works correctly, or there's trash all over the driveway.

If you built a completely custom trash can with the wheels in the center and a very small amount of ground clearance when balanced, you could drastically reduce the initial torque required, but at that point, concerns about needing to move slowly would probably be a lot less anyways since this is being fully engineered at that point, not just an attempt at a quick hack.