‘BANDICOOT’: Guwahati gets Northeast’s first manhole cleaning robot

Northeast on Wednesday got its first-ever manhole cleaning robot to end manual scavenging. Manholes in Guwahati will now be cleaned by robots. Named 'BANDICOOT', the robot has been procured by Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC). The robot, given by Indian Oil Corporation, was inaugurated by Guwahati Development Department (GDD) Minister Siddhartha Bhattacharya. The BANDICOOT robot is also the first of its kind in the world. BANDICOOT was developed by a Start-up India company called Genrobotics. The robot was developed under the Make in India initiative. It was funded by CSR of Indian Oil Corporation Limited. “Today, we have introduced a robotic mechanism for removal of sludge from underground drains. This equipment has been given to us by the Indian Oil Corporation. I am so thankful to them. Apart from that, we have also purchased six Skid Steer Loaders (mini loaders) from JCB and six Backhoe Loaders from CASE and BOBCAT companies each,” Bhattacharya said. Guwahati is India's third city to procure this innovative technology to clean manholes. Earlier, Gurugram and Coimbatore had procured BANDICOOT robots.