Bandicoot robot to clean manholes in Mohali

Tribune News Service

Mohali, October 20

In order to improve the working of sanitation workers, the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) has introduced the work of cleaning manholes in the city with the help of a bandicoot robot, thus replacing the manual cleaning.

The mechanism will bring a positive change in the working of sanitisation workers. It will ensure contactless removal of waste and debris from manholes.

Sarvjit Singh, Principal Secretary, Department of Housing and Urban Development, Punjab, inaugurated the mechanism at PUDA Bhawan Sector 62 here today.

Pradeep Kumar Agrawal, Chief Administrator, GMADA, and Devinder Singh, Chief Engineer, GMADA, were among those present on the occasion.

Sarvjit said the bandicoot robot could do every work that a sanitation worker performs inside the manhole. It is the world’s first manhole-cleaning robot developed under the “Make in India” and ‘Swachh Bharat’ initiative by a start-up Indian company, Genrobotics. The robot could clean manholes more efficiently and effectively than manual cleaning.

The bandicoot robot can enter into the unseen depths of manholes and pull out solid waste material with its specially designed human comparable robotic arm and unclog the sewer system.

The robot would be a big relief for sanitation workers in the Covid times as it ensures zero physical contact with the sewage and helps workers stay away from the virus.

Pradeep Kumar Agrawal, Chief Administrator, GMADA, said during Covid-19, waste deposition had increased by around 70 per cent with plastic, masks, gloves, medicine bottles and injection syringes used during quarantine being disposed of in sewage manholes. He said blockages and other sewage-related works had increased. So, GMADA had decided to use bandicoot robot to clean manholes.