HomoSEP, a robot to clean septic tank would shortly be deployed across the State. The robot was developed by researchers of the Indian Institute of Technology Madras. It does not require human intervention and can be operated above ground by sanitation workers.
The researchers are identifying locations for deploying the robot. There are proposals to deploy them in Gujarat and Maharashtra.
Prabhu Rajagopal of Center for Non-destructive Evaluation and faculty in the Mechanical Engineering department at the institute, who leads the team, said it was in touch with sanitation workers and is supported by the non-governmental organisation Safai Karamchari Andolan. The team worked with Solinas Integrity, a start-up incubated at the institute.
The first two HomoSEP units had been provided to self-help groups led by Nagamma and Ruth Mary, whose husbands died during sanitation work.
Mr. Prabhu, principal investigator of the project, said the HomoSEP brought together the key stakeholders and hoped their effort would inspire others to join the push to develop a solution to a pressing social problem. He had guided a student Divanshu Kumar, who developed the product as a final year master’s project and in 2019 it was showcased in IIT Madras Carbon Zerp Challenge and received seed money to take it forward.
“We hope to leverage support from government channels to mass-produce and distribute our solution on a much larger scale throughout the country from next year,” he said. Since then the project had received financial support through CSR from several companies.
Solinas Integrity is training sanitation workers to operate the unit.
