Coimbatore introduces robots that will clean manholes instead of old-fashioned manual scavenging. The robot has a monitor with a screen and sanitary mechanics can look inside the manhole with the robot’s help. It can identify poisonous gas inside the manhole and it can clear jammed drains up to 20 feet deep.
Robots for manholes cleaning
The civic body in Coimbatore has deployed mechanical robots to clean manholes in the city. The purpose of this program is to eliminate humane risk and old-fashioned manual scavenging. The robot is capable of going 20 feet inside the drain with infra-red enabled night-vision cameras. It is also can capable of detecting any poisonous gas inside the manhole.
Earlier the Supreme Court had banned the manual scavenging as it said it was a very risky task. “In no country, people are sent to gas chambers to die. Every month four to five persons are losing their lives in manual scavenging,” said the supreme court.
Eliminating manual scavenging
“We are introducing robots to eliminate manual scavenging, which is banned by the Supreme Court. Governments are taking measures but not many clarifications are available. Whatever the manner a human needed to do inside the manhole, now can be done by the robot,” Rashid, a robotics engineer said.
The design of these robots is called Bandicoot robots. They are produced by GenRobotics, a startup company, based in Trivandrum district of Kerala. With the help of these robots, man will no longer have to go inside the manholes for cleaning. These robots are already in use in seven cities, including Kerala.
Coimbatore gets a new sanitation worker to clean the manholes! #manualscavenging #robots #coimbatore pic.twitter.com/imkphk0mtc
— CNBC-TV18 (@CNBCTV18News) November 22, 2019
The Mumbai municipal body becomes a fresh member amongst the rest to have these kinds of robots to clean the manholes. Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Thursday brought two Bandicoot Robots to avoid manual scavenging.
