Trichy: After successfully reclaiming a dump yard through biomining, the Kumbakonam municipality has set another benchmark for civic bodies by introducing Bandicoot, a semi-automatic robot that could enter manholes and clean underground drainage (UGD) chambers.The robot would eliminate the need for sanitary workers to enter manholes for cleaning the sewage lines. Bandicoot is equipped with five night vision cameras and a robotic arm that would relay the sub-surface scenario to sanitary workers standing outside the UGD chamber to clear line blocks.According to the Kumbakonam municipality, as much as 70% of the temple town comprising 45 wards was covered under the underground drainage system. With as many as 19,500 UGD connections, the municipality so far had been relying on silt removing vehicles to clear the blockades in sewage lines.Though manual scavenging has not been practised in Kumbakonam, the move to introduce Bandicoot is meant to rule out any chance of sanitary workers entering manholes.“The semi-automatic robot was procured for the first time in Tamil Nadu. It is procured with the financial support of Indian Oil Corporation’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiative. As we are in the process of covering entire town under UGD, Bandicoot will help us remove sewage blocks safely in a short time,” commissioner of Kumbakonam municipality, K Uma Maheshwari said.Around 400 manholes can be cleaned by the human-controlled robot per month. And, with periodical maintenance, sewage blockade would not recur, officials said. For the next one month, as many as 34 sanitary workers of Kumbakonam municipality would be trained to operate the robot.According to Vimal Govind MK, member of Team Genrobotics, a Kerala-based startup that manufactures Bandicoot, the device was made of light weight alloys and carbon fibre materials and could enter 45cm diameter manholes and go down to six metres.“The robotic arm of Bandicoot with the help of night vision cameras can clean sewage lines in less than 30 minutes. Without entering a manhole, sanitary workers can clear the UGD chambers,” Govind told TOI.While Bandicoot, weighing 90kg is already in place at Thiruvananthapuram, Team Genrobotics said the device introduced in Kumbakonam is a light-weight version, weighing only 65kg. The semi-robotic device is powered by a portable petrol generator which is used to generate electricity for in-turn producing pressurised air to power the pneumatic arm (operated by air) of Bandicoot, to clean UGD chambers. “We have a 12-inch screen to relay the cleaning process inside the chamber. Sanitary workers can monitor the cleaning by staying outside the manholes,” Govind added. The cost of Bandicoot is priced at Rs 17 lakh.

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