Robo In The Pit!

Kerala-based Genrobotics uses automation to address manual scavenging.

- Devika Singh

As the mercury hits 45 degree Celsius on a Friday afternoon in June, there is a throng of onlookers at a small intersection in a housing colony in Gurgaon. Apart from the bystanders, there are sanitation workers and officials from the Punjab Water Supply and Sewerage Board too. They have all assembled to witness something they have only heard about, but never seen – a robot in action. The cynosure, meanwhile, with four legs on wheels stands atop a manhole, which it would soon clean.

As an electric generator comes to life, Bandicoot the robot preps up. Red and green buttons on the user interface on one side of the machine are pressed, and a three-armed structure with claw-like arms descends from the robot and goes into the manhole. The screen shows users the messy insides of the manhole as the claws clutch the sewage and draw it outside.

An anxious Vimal Govind, Co-founder and CEO of Genrobotics Innovations, stands by the side and observes the proceedings. Arun George, another co-founder, operates the robot in the scorching heat, sweat dripping down his face. The duo is apprehensive about the response of the officials who are there to inspect the robot. Both have not slept the night before. Govind was in Chandigarh the day before to meet officials and George flew in from Mumbai where they are working on a project with Bharat Petroleum. Another Co-founder Rashid K. is in Dubai to meet the authorities there. “We are partnering with the Dubai municipality for their different automation needs for the next year-and-a-half. A Memorandum of Understanding has been signed and we are on the verge of signing the contract,” says Govind.