Three Keralites behind ‘Bandicoot’ win Infosys Gold award

Business & Economy, Community Involvement / Social Issues, Science & Technology, , ,

KERALA :

Bandicoot has already made its way into 12 states and the company has also grown to the strength of 100.

Rashid K, co-founder of Bandicoot, receiving the award on Wednesday
Rashid K, co-founder of Bandicoot, receiving the award on Wednesday

Thiruvananthapuram :

Malayalis Rashid K, Vimal Govind MK and Nikhil NP of startup ‘Genrobotics’ won the gold award instituted by Infosys Foundation. The award was given for their innovation ‘Bandicoot’, a robot developed by the startup. ‘Bandicoot’ is stated to be the world’s first manhole cleaning robot. It’s the second edition of the Aarohan Social Innovation awards.

The innovation won the award in the sustainability category. The award carries a purse of `20 lakh. Other award categories included healthcare, rural development and destitute care. Rashid, Govind and Nikhil are the core founders of Genrobotics and Bandicoot has been designed by nine engineers from Kerala.

After its successful trial in Thiruvananthapuram by clearing manholes filled with plastic and other kinds of waste, it is being used successfully by the Kerala Water Authority for various purposes.“Through our innovation, we aim to eliminate manual scavenging completely from our country. We were able to create awareness with the support of the government and other organisations.”

“We are happy to receive this prestigious award and we hope that we will be able to end manual scavenging in five years,” said Govind, the chief executive officer, Genrobotics.

Bandicoot has already made its way into 12 states and the company has also grown to the strength of 100. “We plan to expand in more states thereby reducing the number of manhole deaths,” according to Govind
“Besides Bandicoot, we are also working on other projects for the welfare of the society,” he said.In  healthcare category, three awards were presented.

Recipients include Partha Pratim Das Mahapatra from Kolkata, who developed a non-invasive, non-contact, portable device to measure human bilirubin, oxygen saturation and haemoglobin levels without drawing blood from the body; Dr Binita S Tunga and Dr Rashbehari Tunga from Bengaluru.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Kerala / by Express News Service / February 20th, 2020