Bandicoot robot—a Kerala startup's answer to centuries-old manual scavenging

rEvery year, Kerala’s capital Thiruvananthapuram witnesses the largest religious gathering of women, at Attukal Pongala in Attukal Bhagavathy Temple, to commemorate the victory of good over evil.

With scores of women set to throng the place on Saturday, seeking divine intervention in their lives, a group of four young engineering graduates has become a blessing for millions of sanitation workers in the country. The robot Bandicoot, built by a city-based startup GenRobotics, to clean sewers and drainages, completed its first cleaning in run-up to the popular Pongala festival. The Kerala government officially launched the robot recently.

The spider-shaped robot is Genrobotics’ answer to the inhuman practice of manual scavenging. Bandicoot goes into a manhole and clears the solid wastes and blockages inside it. From opening the heavy cast iron lid of a manhole to collecting and clearing solid wastes, bandicoot does everything that requires a man to do inside a manhole. Once inserted, the robot's four legs attach on the walls of the manhole. The arm then scoops in the dirt and puts it into the attached bucket and can be pulled out of the manhole. It can also set the sewer jetting pipes to clear drainage lines. “The robot has been designed in such a way that we want to reduce manual contact to the maximum extend possible,” said Nikhil N.P.

One fine morning in November 2015, Kerala woke up to the tragic death of a 32-year-old autorickshaw driver Noushad and two sewer workers in Kozhikode. One among the latter had collapsed inside a manhole during a maintenance work at a sewer and Noushad and the other worker lost their lives trying to save him. The tragic incident was soon lost in oblivion, but for four fresh graduates from the MES College, Kuttippuram, in the state's Malapurram district.

Vimal Govind M.K., Arun George, Nikhil and Rashid K. could not let the incident become another forgotten tragedy. The four were determined to solve the problem of sewer-related deaths in India through their robotics startup.

“Since the beginning, our focus was to solve socially relevant problems. We realised that sewer-related deaths are more than the number of deaths at the borders,” said mastermind Vimal. They started as a student startup in 2015 to provide technology solutions in defence using robotics, but that’s when Noushad’s tragedy caught their attention. They approached the Kerala Startup Mission with their intent to work in the area of sewage-related problems. “Upon research, we realised the glaring and inhumane conditions under which these men work. We asked ourselves, 'Being engineers, if we are able to find a solution to this problem, then why not?' That's our way of giving back to the society,” said Arun. Currently, the team is nine-member strong.

India's shame

The four learned that despite manual scavenging being banned in India since 2013, one of the reasons why it is still being practised is because the existing machines are highly inefficient and require manual intervention to work. They merely assist manual scavenging but do not substitute the act of a man entering a manhole. These machines are not automated and do not collect solid wastes, the primary culprits for sewer blockages and flooded manholes. Typically, manual intervention is required to remove the solid wastes, including sanitary napkins, clothes and even electronic devices, that choke the sewer lines preventing water flow.

Another reason for manual scavenging is caste discrimination. In most of the states, sewer labourers belong to the oppressed caste and are still often branded as untouchables. Vimal and co realised the gravity of the problem and was determined to find a solution to fight the evil of casteism, too, through robotics.

“Even the engineers in the water authority department were desperate to find a solution to replace the practice of scavenging, but mechanisation was hardly doing any help. We started frequenting the department offices and they actively gave us insights into the real problems. Soon, we got into the crux of the problem," Arun said.

Genrobotics' immediate aim is to educate and equip the current manual scavengers to operate Bandicoot, so that automation doesn’t result in loss of livelihoods. "Our immediate objective is to simplify the user interface and make it available in local languages so that the current labourers can easily operate it, and none of their jobs are, indeed, affected," said Vimal.

The company is receiving interests from other state governments, including Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Maharashtra. However, the startup's current target is to introduce the robot in sewage divisions across Kerala, receive feedbacks and incorporate additional optimisations, if any, within the next six months and then, take it across India. The startup is also looking to collaborate with Swachh Bharat and Make in India to get an easy access across India to make the country manual scavenging-free, and convert manholes to 'roboholes'.