No, it’s not some space vehicle or some odd new form of transportation concocted by some mad scientist.

The little machines with the tubes sticking out, rolling down Selma’s streets, are called litter vacs, machines that, as the name suggests, pick up litter off Selma’s busiest, and not so busiest, streets.

Through a lease agreement, the City of Selma recently acquired the machines at a cost of $102,000 from the Tennant Company, which is based in Minneapolis.

Jimmie Smith, one of the operators of these new machines, has been riding his machine for the past two months.

It’s a job he says, he &uot;enjoys.&uot;

Smith said he typically starts work at 5 a.m. and then ends his shift at 1 p.m. He also works weekends when needed.

Smith’s area of clean up is west Selma, while other riders roll down the eastern, northern and southern parts of town.

Smith said he was not the only one impressed with the new machines.