Team Herald
PANJIM: The Corporation of the City of Panjim (CCP) recently procured a “Bandicoot” robot, which is the only robot available in India to clean the city manholes.
An official of Imagine Panaji Smart City Development Limited (IPSCDL) on Friday informed that the IPSCDL has procured a “Bandicoot” machine for sewage extraction under Smart City Mission. Procurement of this new technological machine will eliminate the work of manual sewage extraction thereby eliminating the difficulties faced by the workers who clean the manholes manually. Also, since the manual cleaning of the manholes is banned, the machine will help keep the city clean.
Leejan D’Souza, junior engineer (Automobile) of the CCP informed the cost of the robot to be Rs 39 lakh.
“Its function is to clean the manholes in the city,” he added.
He also informed that the robot was procured last Wednesday and will be handed over to the Public Works Department (PWD) in the coming week or so for its operation.
Elucidating the weighing and lifting capacity of the machine, Leejan said that the machine is capable of cleaning five to six manholes per day and is powered by a fuel (Diesel/Petrol) generator for its operation.
“The machine is fully automatic but requires an operator to operate the joystick which commands the robot to grab the waste, pull it up, collect waste in the basket etc. The machine weighs about 500 to 600 kgs,” he added
Adding to this, the official of IPSCDL said, “We are the funding and planning agency for Panjim Smart City. ‘Bandicoot’ is the only proprietary machine in India, manufactured by Genrobotics, which is capable of doing the work. The robot will help clean the manholes and the blockages.”
He added that the operation and maintenance cost of the machine over the period of five years is estimated to be around Rs 16 lakh, which will be looked after by the CCP.
