Techno Swacch Abhiyaan: Kerala’s sewage and manholes to get clean-up with ‘Bandicoot’ robot

Thiruvananthapuram, January 12: Recalling our ‘Cleanliness Soldiers’, it takes the toll on their lives when they entire into the sewers to clean out the mess. They are the real ambassadors for ‘Swachhta Abhiyaan’. But to relieve their strain, Thiruvananthapuram based concept ‘Bandicoot’ –the robot may soon take over humans to eradicate manual scavenging. 

‘Bandicoot’ is the four-legged robot spider that will clean manholes without any human having to enter into it.

GenRobotics- Thiruvananthapuram based start-up has developed "Bandicoot": that cleans manholes and attaches equipment that can clean sewage lines. The robot, developed by a group of engineering students has four limbs and a bucket system attached to a spider web looking extension, which can go inside the manhole. After moving the heap of garbage at the bottom of the manhole, it will be collected by using the bucket system before lifting it upward. It also has Wi-Fi and Bluetooth modules.

"The idea struck us when we read about manhole deaths in Kerala and Bengaluru. During our research we realized how deep a problem it was and that in the north it was also a caste problem," says Vimal, a Co-Founder. GenRobotics was founded in 2015 by a group of five bright minds who wanted to create robots that could replace humans in dangerous and high-risk tasks.

"The suction machine can remove liquid waste but it is bulky and cannot be used in dry areas. Similarly, a jetting machine which is used across the world is designed to clean sewer lines but not to clean manholes and take out the waste," he explained further.

"Anyone who can operate a mobile or a toy car can operate it. We don't want them unemployed, but want them to operate the robots," he says.

"In the future, we hope to align our technology with Swacch Bharat and Make In India mission so that we can make the country completely manual scavenging free," he added.