Scavenging redefined in Tadipatri

• Civic body purchases robotic scavenging machine to clean drains
• Kerala-based Genrobotics developes robot ‘Bandicoot’

Tadipatri (Anantapur): Tadipatri municipality which is the first to ban plastic in the state has come up with another innovative idea for cleaning manholes with a robotic scavenging machine called ‘Bandicoot’ and redefined scavenging.

Local MLA J C Prabhakar Reddy had launched the robotic scavenger on Thursday for underground drainage cleaning operations in the presence of District Collector Veera Pandian.

The robot, which takes 15 minutes to clean small sewers and around 45 minutes to unclog bigger ones, was developed by Genrobotics, a company founded by nine young engineers in Thiruvananthapuram two years ago.

“Our ultimate aim is to end manual scavenging in India,” said Arun George, co-founder of the Genrobotics, while speaking with The Hans India here.

The 80-kg robot lifts the heavy metal cover on its own, drops its arm into the manhole, scoops out the solid waste and dumps it in a bucket.

The robot can also be used to check the sewage apart from jetting the sewer lines. A person is enough to operate robot from a safe distance and all operations can be viewed on a monitor.

Tadipatri Municipal Commissioner Siva Ramakrishna told The Hans India that the civic body has procured one machine to clean all the 2,500 manholes in the town.

He said that the machine is designed to clean filth and liquid waste in manholes and reduce manual scavenging.

He said that 25,000 people have died in India while working in manholes. Every year 1,000 people die in India in municipal towns.

Tadipatri municipality had banned plastic several years ago.