Three young engineers from the State who developed Bandicoot, a robot designed to clean manholes, have been selected for the Gold award of the Aarohan Social Innovation Awards instituted by the Infosys Foundation. The award comprises a cash prize of ₹20 lakh.
Rashid K., Vimal Govind M.K. and Nikhil N.P. won the award in the Sustainability category.
They were recognised for their invention aimed at eliminating manual scavenging, saving humans from manhole accidents and adding dignity to human life.
The Aarohan social innovation awards were instituted in four categories to recognise and reward individuals, teams and NGOs for creating innovative solutions to support the underprivileged in India.
The three engineers were the core group of a team that developed Bandicoot, a spider-shaped robot that can clean clogged sewers with precision.
