Mysore/Mysuru: One of the biggest problems in cities is the profession of manual scavenging. Although laws have been made to stop the practice, human scavengers are forced to enter and clean the manholes with their hands even today, a major reason being a lack of proper technological solutions to take their place.

The Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) has procured a manhole-cleaning robot called ‘Bandicoot,’ which would help end the practice of manual scavenging and it has already been put to work regularly from wherever complaints of sewage blockages are received at the control room.

Till now, the MCC was using hydraulic and manually operated machines to clean sewers and in many cases, Pourakarmikas were forced to get into the stinkholes.

The robot, which cost around Rs. 39 lakh, has been purchased from Genrobotic Innovations Private Limited, a Thiruvananthapuram-based company. The machine can detect a block in the manhole and automatically desilt, clean and unclog it for smooth passage of waste.

Genrobotic Innovations Private Ltd. developed the first robot around 2017 and now 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.

Control unit and drone unit

The Bandicoot, resembling a claw in shape, 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, said K.J. Sindhu, Executive Engineer of the MCC’s UGD arm.

The robot weighs about 80 kgs and it requires two persons to carry it from the vehicle to the manhole that has to be cleaned. The robot can be operated by one person. The operator can control the drone unit by monitoring through a high definition display which will get input from waterproof cameras mounted on the drone unit.

 The diving depth of the robotic drone is customisable according to the maximum depth and the robot performs its operation in any hazardous or corrosive sewerage environments effectively for a longer period.

The sensor-based feedback system incorporated in the robot will allow the user to know the position of the robotic drone unit inside the manhole, thus the user can do a surgical cleaning process with high efficiency.

“Personnel from the company in Thiruvananthapuram have trained the Pourakarmikas in operating the robot. It can easily lift 125 kgs solid waste and 20 to 30 kgs of silt from the manholes at a time,” Sindhu added.