ONGC’S CMD Hands Over a Robot to Maintain Haridwar Sewer Systems along Advanced Safety Standards

On the occasion of its 67^th Foundation Day, ONGC introduced an advanced robot called Bandicoot in the holy city of Haridwar to stop human entry into sewer manholes.

The robot was handed over by ONGC CMD Dr Alka Mittal to Shri. RK Rohella General Manager Jal SansthanUttarakhand, in the presence of other Board Directors of ONGC and Shri. Manish Semwal Secretary Appraisal Jal Sansthan, Shri.RamrajDwivedi General Manager HR CSR ONGC, Shri. Nikhil NP Director of Genrobotics, Shri. Rashid K Director of Genrobotics

This robot was handed over as a pilot initiative in Haridwar since, during high pilgrim visits, the load on the sewer network is always difficult and unsafe to handle using the authority's existing methods.

To meet the exact load on the sewer network, the government may require more Bandicoot robots in the near future.

The Bandicoot Robot is the world's first manhole cleaning robot – an initiative under Makein India and Swachh Bharat by the national award-winning start-up Genrobotics.

The Bandicoot Robot comes with a human-comparable robotic arm and advanced features that help the robot perform the cleaning action more efficiently.

Bandicoot robots also feature special 4 IP68 waterproof cameras to clean the manholes in a more precise and effective manner even under low-light conditions.

The Bandicoot Robot's user interface is interactive and user-friendly for manual scavengers, assisting in rehabilitating the existing manual scavengers to become the robot operators.

The Bandicoot robotic technology is an AMRUT Tech Challenge Award winner for being a Promising Innovative Solution for eliminating manual scavenging by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India.

The ONGC foundation has handed over an advanced robot called Bandicoot on the occasion of 67th foundation Day of ONGC, in the holy city of Haridwar to eliminate human entry into sewer manholes. The robot was handed over by ONGC CMD Dr Alka Mittal to Shri. RK Rohella General Manager Jal SansthanUttarakhand, in the presence of Board Directors of ONGC and Shri. Manish Semwal Secretary Appraisal Jal Sansthan, Shri.RamrajDwivedi General Manager HR CSR ONGC, Shri. Nikhil NP Director of Genrobotics, Shri. Rashid K Director of Genrobotics.

Haridwar is one of the seven sacred cities and a major pilgrimage destination of India. It is also one of the most crowded cities, necessitating better hygiene and cleanliness. In the months seeing heavy influx of pilgrims, the load on the sewer network rises to insane levels, handling which is immensely stressful for the workers using the means long in place. In view of this concern, ONGC has launched the Bandicoot Robot as a pilot initiative in Haridwar Jal Sansthan. However, in ordertotackle the exact load on the sewer network, the government may require more Bandicoot robots in the near future.

“We are extremely happy for the support from ONGC for implementing Bandicoot Robot in Uttarakhand. The robot is really the need of the hour. These technologies are highly needed in this area because we have nearly 20000 manholes in Haridwar and 15000+ manholes in Dehradun. One Bandicoot can handle only 900 manholes so In the near future, we anticipate additional help from ONGC and other CSR partners to totally eradicate manual scavenging from Uttarakhand” Said Shri. Neelima Garg Chief General Manager Jal sansthanUttarakhand.

Bandicoot robots are currently used by 15 states in India, including Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Maharashtra, Punjab, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu. Recently, Goa launched their first Bandicoot Robot in Margao.With support from ONGC Foundation’s CSR, Haridwar is now the 15^thcity to switch to robotic scavenging. The implementation of Bandicoot in the city will help provide better sanitation and hygiene for pilgrims as well as the general public. The ONGC Foundation has been supporting this initiative for the past few years in an effort to stop manual scavenging from India and improve the lives of sanitation workers in the country through training and rehabilitation. This programme has already been piloted by ONGC in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and now Uttarakhand, and has transformed 260+ sanitation workers from these states. 

"Sanitation workers who are working in such conditions are very unsafe and in danger, ONGC is taking efforts to put an end to this practice through advanced technologies. We are proud to contribute to the nation's mission and efforts to end manual scavenging.” said ONGC CMD Shri. Dr.Alka Mittal

Efficient cleaning of manholes requires humans to enter it, but manholes are death pits for the workers due to harmful gases and various other dangerous factors. With this programme, sanitation workers who work in such dangerous conditions would be protected. Other cleaning techniques do exist, such as sucking and grabbing machines, however the sucking machines are unable to remove solid waste, and the grabbing machine can only clean less than 20% of the area inside the manhole. In this situation, the authorities are forced to deploy human labour. but Bandicoot, with its human-like robotic arms, wider opening bucket system and its sewerage and water proof cameras eliminate the requirements for human entry and outperforms other mechanical methods.

“We created the bandicoot robot in 2018 during our college days to help the suffering sanitation workers. Bandicoot is truly an engineering masterpiece, and has been a great success for the last 3-4 years. We are really proud that our technologies are now making the holy city Haridwar clean, and the workers of this city safe” said Shri. Nikhil NP Director of Genrobotics

The Bandicoot robot is the world's first manhole cleaning robot, developed by National Award-winning startupGenrobotics as part of the MakeInIndiaand Swachh Bharat initiatives. Bandicoot robotic technology is designed to mimic and replace the entire human requirement inside the manhole for efficient cleaning. Bandicoot robotic technology is an AMRUT Tech Challenge Award winner as the Promising Innovative Solution for sanitation by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India.