On 28th July 2020, Siddhartha Bhattacharya, Minister of Guwahati Development Department inaugurated Guwahati’s first manhole cleaning robot named “BANDICOOT”, an automatic sewer cleaning device. Guwahati became the first city in the Northeast region to get a manhole cleaning robot.
BANDICOOT:
i.BANDICOOT was developed by Genrobotics, an Indian startup company under the Make in India initiative.
ii.The funding for the development of BANDICOOT was provided by the Indian Oil Corporation Limited(IOCL) under the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative.
iii.The robot supports easy removal of sludge from the underground drain and will help the elimination of manual scavenging.
Key Points:
i.The Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) procured the BANDICOOT along with 6 Skid Steer Loaders (Mini loaders) from JCB.
ii.After Gurugram and Coimbatore, Guwahati is the third city to acquire the technology to clean manhole.
About Assam:
Chief Minister– Sarbananda Sonowal
Governor– Jagdish Mukhi
Capital– Dispur
Recent Related News:
i.Railway Protection Force of Central Railway (CR), Pune division, Maharashtra launched a Robotic ‘Captain Arjun’ (Always be Responsible and Just Use to be Nice) to intensify the screening and surveillance of passengers.
ii.CSIR- Central Mechanical Engineering Research Institute (CMERI), Durgapur developed the robotic device HCARD (Hospital Care Assistive Robotic Device) to help the frontline healthcare workers in maintaining physical distance from those infected by COVID-19.
