PURI: Meet Bandicoot, a robot, that promises to help civic authorities get rid of manual scavenging and also give dignity to sanitation workers involved in the work. One such robot was pressed into service in the town by Puri Municipality on Saturday.
After being flagged off by Collector Samarth Verma in the presence of School and Mass Education Minister Samir Ranjan Dash, the robot cleaned the first manhole in front of Sonali Plaza in the town.
Apart from cleaning manholes, ‘Bandicoot’ also disposes of sewage waste through an automatically-operated system.
The sanitation workers of the town’s civic body would be trained on operating the robot and given sanitised PPE kits.
This apart, the workers’ health check-up would be conducted at regular intervals. Induction of the robot for cleaning manholes would not only make the work of sanitation workers easier but also provide them dignity.
People losing their lives after getting asphyxiated while cleaning manholes is a common occurrence in the country.
In order to address the crisis, an Indian company, ‘Genrobotics’ developed ‘Bandicoot’ under the Make in India initiative.