Kerala's robotic scavenger to clean up Tamil Nadu's temple town
Robotic scavenger "Bandicoot", the product of a Kerala-based start-up, would soon be cleaning sewers in the temple town of Kumbakonam in neighboring Tamil Nadu. The product was handed over to Kumbakonam Municipality by the Indian Oil Corporation as part of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). There are about 5,000 manholes in Kumbakonam Municipality which are to be regularly cleaned. Here are more details.
Municipality has been cleaning 400-500 sewer manholes a month
The Municipality has been cleaning approximately 400-500 sewer manholes a month using mechanical arms. The procedure is cumbersome and involves manual intervention at times. The robot was developed by Genrobotics, Thiruvananthapuram, a start-up promoted by a group of engineers from Kerala. The innovative product has the potential to eliminate manual-scavenging and effectively clean the sewage and manholes, thus saving many human lives, Genrobotics said.
Robot is equipped with Wi-Fi, bluetooth
The Kerala government would also be utilizing the services of robots to clean sewer holes, CEO of Genrobotics, Vimal Govind said. The robot, equipped with Wi-Fi, bluetooth and control panels has four limbs and a bucket system attached to a spider web looking extension to scoop out the waste from sewers. The project is supported by Kerala Water Authority (KWA).
