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It was in 2015 when the 20-something college quartet- Vimal Govind MK, Arun George, Nikhil NP, and Rashid Bin Abdulla Khan decided to build a wearable mobile machine for soldiers to lift heavy weapons and military supplies at remote locations where automation wasn’t possible. Named after their favorite Marvel superhero, the ‘ Iron Man suit’ had mechanical arms and legs similar to human beings and could be operated by the person inside it.This led to the birth of their firm Genrobotics and the team hatched many technology-driven ideas to help solve other existing problems in the country. However, lack of funds for research and the need of imported technical parts pushed their agenda to a halt. After graduating from MES College of Engineering, Calicut, they decided to part ways and took up jobs in different IT companies.Sometime later in 2015, a 32-year-old rickshaw driver in Kozhikode died saving two manual scavengers from a manhole after the three got stuck in the pit for nearly half-a-hour. Following the incident, the Kerala Startup Mission ( KSUM ), the state government’s nodal agency for development of startups and entrepreneurship, met the quartet in an event and sought mechanised solutions to replace the job of manual scavenging.The team then quit their corporate jobs and formally established Genrobotics in 2017. They began researching on the issue and built Bandicoot , a remote-controlled robot which cleans up manholes, replacing the safai karamcharis and preventing thousands of manhole-related deaths.Notably, employment of manual scavengers was outlawed in India 25 years ago as per the Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act 1993. However, the occupation still persists, primarily due to the presence of about 2.6 million insanitary latrines (Census 2011) which require cleaning human excreta manually. In addition to the job being the epitome of social injustice, it has resulted in the deaths of many who get asphyxiated after being exposed to harmful gases. As per an RTI response received from the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment in March 2019, 12 state governments and Delhi NCR reported 405 sewer and septic tank deaths from 1993 to 2019. However, Safai Karmchari Andolan, a manual scavenging community led by advocacy organisation, reported at least 300 deaths from early 2017 to September 2018.After the startup had designed the Bandicoot project, it was vetted by KSUM, who then granted funds to the team. Their idea also convinced A Shainamol, the then MD of Kerala Water Authority, who was in-charge of sewage cleaning in the state and the team received financial support from the agency.The 50-kg robotic scavenger is equipped with four robotic legs for smooth portability. It has a robotic arm with 360-degree motion which plucks out the solid waste from the corners of the manhole and collects it in a bucket. It is also equipped with a water jet which clears sewage blockages. There are cameras attached to the machine which enables one to see the footage of the manhole from inside.The machine runs through a stand unit which has a console with buttons. The device has a simple user interface and requires only a single user to operate. In addition to this, the machine is dirtproof, waterproof, corrosion resistant, and flash proof thus preventing the risks of accidental electric sparks. It can also be easily attached to a vehicle.The amount of work which usually takes three to four hours and at least three manual scavengers, Bandicoot finishes it in just 45 minutes.On February 2018, the device ran its first successful trial at a government medical college in Thiruvananthapuram and was launched officially in the state by Chief Minister Pinrayi Vijayan later that year. Since then, the technology has created a buzz and the team got inquiries and requests from many parts of the country.On the eve of the 150th birthday of Mahatma Gandhi last year, the team launched the latest version of the device- Bandicoot 2.0 in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres. The advanced version can detect harmful gases like hydrogen sulphate and methane and is a fully automatic machine.Bandicoot is priced between Rs 25 lakh and Rs 35 lakh and has so far been deployed in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, and Haryana. George says the plan is to expand their services to pan India by 2020.One reason why manual scavenging has continued is because it is still a source of livelihood for many who live on the fringes of the society. A robot that does their work can mean loss of jobs for many. Fortunately, that is not the case. Instead of Bandicoot costing their livelihoods, the team trains the manual scavengers to operate on the machine. “Rehabilitating the manual scavengers completely is our mission ever since the launch of Bandicoot,” George said.He explained that they have conducted medical-cum-training camps across many states for the safai karmcharis. The camps provide free medical checkups and learning sessions to train the workers.“After each training we have collected feedback from the workers, the responses have been very good, workers were happy themselves to get trained in using bandicoot,” he said, adding that so far, Genrobotics has trained over 80 manual scavengers.Through this initiative, the startup is empowering the workers and giving them a whole new lease of life. Anil Joshi, Founder and Managing Partner of Unicorn Ventures India, recollected how it didn’t take him long to get convinced once he saw the Bandicoot prototype and its potential. “Considering their minimal business experience and limited resources, the team has outshone themselves. They have done a commendable job building world-class products. The device is dedicated to eradicating manual scavenging and will work really well in India and also help in other developing countries.”Unicorn Ventures is one of the leading investors of Generobotics. The firm has also received funding from Rajan Anandan, ex-Google India VP and an investor.Last year, Genrobotics was selected in the first batch of Google Launchpad Accelerator 2018 in India. “The opportunity to join hands with Google to create solutions for the problems faced by India was a great step. It was an opportunity for us to learn and adopt new things in the field of technology,” George said.The startup has generated around Rs 3.85 crore in FY2018-2019 and is targeting to earn Rs 70 crore by next fiscal.The team has also found the time and resources to dust out their original idea. Apart from Bandicoot, Genrobotics has come up with upgraded versions of their Iron Man suit, which is officially named- Gen Exoskeleton . The latest- Generation 2.5 can lift weights of around 181 kg and can serve as an excellent tool for industrial purposes, logistics, defense and the construction industry. Generation 3 is in the works and will have an inbuilt voice recognition system along with vision sensors.