Vijayawada: The Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) has introduced an advanced robot named ‘Bandicoot’ to clean and maintain city manholes safely without workers entering inside it. This initiative is in alignment with the vision of ONGC Foundation’s CSR division to bring worker safety during maintenance of city manholes, using advanced technologies.
The Pooja ceremony of the launch was conducted by Hon’ble Deputy Mayors of Vijayawada, Smt. Bellam Durga and Smt. A.Sailaja Reddy. The key handover was done by Mr. Amit Narayan, Executive Director-Asset Manager, ONGC and the Hon’ble Municipal Commissioner Shri. Swapnil Dinakar Pundkar switched on the Bandicoot Robot on 26th May 2022 at Vijayawada Municipal Corporation office.
Cleaning of manholes effectively requires humans to enter inside it, but the manholes are death pits for the workers due to harmful gases. To solve this challenge Vijayawada Municipal Corporation has now deployed a robot to clean sewer manholes.
Vijaywada is the fourth city that has introduced Bandicoot Robotic Scavenging in Andhra Pradesh, after Tadipatri, Nellore and Visakhapatnam. Through training and rehabilitation programs the sanitation workers now have a safer and dignified job as Robot Operators.
Bandicoot Robot is the world’s first manhole cleaning robot developed as ‘MakeInIndia’ and ‘Swachh Bharat’ initiative by National Award winning startup Genrobotics.Bandicoot robot comes with a human comparable robotic arm and various sensors that help the robot to perform the cleaning action more efficiently. These robots are also featured with special 4 IP68 waterproof cameras to clean the manholes in a precise and efficient manner, even under low light conditions.
Bandicoot Robotic Technology is an AMRUT Tech Challenge Award winner as Promising Innovative Solution for eliminating manual scavenging by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India.
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