NAGAPATTINAM: The Nagapattinam Municipality has introduced a robot to clean its sewer network and eliminate the scourge of manual scavenging. Nagapattinam is the fifth municipal body in Tamil Nadu to introduce the robot, popularly called Bandicoot.
"The Bandicoot looks promising. We are currently using hydraulic and manually operated machines to clean sewers. The robot can eliminate deaths of sanitary workers due to manual scavenging. We have requested the company to train our personnel. The robot will soon enter maintenance holes and de-clog the channel," said P Egaraj, the commissioner of Nagapattinam Municipality.
Bandicoot has been developed by a Trivandrum-based company named Genrobotic Innovations Private Limited, which was founded in 2015. The company's founders Vimal Govind MK, Arun George, Nikhil NP, and Rashid Bin Abdulla Khan developed the first version of the robot around 2017. The company is providing the upgraded and second version to local bodies across the country. Genrobotics has won the national award for the "best campus initiated startup" from 'Startup India' for its invention recently.
The Bandicoot consists of two components, the control unit and the drone unit. The control unit consists of the console to operate the robot. The drone unit is the one which enters the manhole. The unit consists of legs to provide movement inside the hole, arms to pick up the waste matter, a bucket to collect the waste and a camera with night vision to enable staff to monitor the work. The robot weighs about 80 kg.
"We have sold the robots to 40 local bodies in eleven states in the past two years. Our mission is to change every 'manhole' in the country into a 'robohole'. The nomenclature will also eliminate the social stigma attached to those holes," said Afsal Muttikkal, the marketing lead of Genrobotics. The company has so far introduced the robot in Coimbatore, Kumbakonam, Tuticorin, Thanjavur and Nagapattinam.
The Centre is about to introduce a new bill 'The Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation (Amendment) Bill, 2020'.
The robot costs about Rs 40 lakh. Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) funded the purchase for Nagapattinam Municipality through its corporate social responsibility, in collaboration with the nonprofit 'Hand in Hand Inclusive Development and Services'.
The Nagapattinam district administration lauded the initiative by Nagapattinam Municipality for the purchase and Genrobotic Innovations Private Limited for the idea. It should be noted that a couple of sanitary workers died while cleaning a manhole in Nambiar Nagar in Nagapattinam in August 2019. "The machine will be a progressive step for local bodies in the district in reducing such human casualties cleaning manholes," said MS Prasanth, the Additional Collector of Nagapattinam district.