Manual scavenging prevalent in India will soon be a thing of past as Indian Institute of Technology Madras has developed ‘HomoSEP,’ a robot, which is all set for field deployment.
At present, first two HomoSEP units have been distributed to self-help groups led by Ms. Nagamma and Ms. Ruth Mary through the support of the NGO, SKA. Their husbands had died tragically during sanitation work.
A total of ten units are planned to be deployed across Tamil Nadu. IIT researchers already in touch with Sanitation Workers to identify locations. Locations in Gujarat and Maharashtra are also being considered.
This robot has been developed over the last several years by a team led by Prof. Prabhu Rajagopal, Center for Nondestructive Evaluation, IIT Madras, and Faculty, Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Madras together with IIT Madras-incubated start-up Solinas Integrity Private Limited.
Supported by the NGO, Safai Karamchari Andolan (SKA), team has been in close touch with Sanitation Workers and dedicated to elimination of manual scavenging in India.
In the unique model being pioneered, IIT Madras is empowering enterprises established by such self-help groups, whose key stakeholders will be women impacted by the tragic consequences of manual scavenging.
The task of further distribution of 9 more units, several of which have already been fabricated as per the project plans, is ongoing.
Highlighting his motivations behind developing HomoSEP, Prof. Prabhu Rajagopal, Principal Investigator of the Project and Faculty, Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Madras, said, “The Septic Tank is a poisonous environment, filled with semi-solid and semi-fluid human faecal material that make up about two-thirds of the tank”.
Hundreds of deaths are reported every year across India, due to manual scavenging in Septic Tanks despite bans and prohibitory orders.”
Prof. Prabhu Rajagopal added, “The HomoSEP project is unique for the way it has brought together the key stakeholders, including university (our team), NGO, Industry CSR and start-up to develop a solution to an urgent and pressing social problem.
“No doubt the problem is large and complex, and we hope that our effort serves as an inspiration for others to join in the push.”
Prof. Rajagopal said they are grateful that over the years a number of students including Divanshu and Bhavesh Narayani (IIT Madras MS alumnus now also with Solinas) have been inspired to work on this project.
“Today we have a dynamic team, reinforced by Solinas which is a start-up focussed on water and sanitation”.
“We also hope to leverage support from Government channels to mass-produce and distribute our solution on a much larger scale throughout the country from the next year.”
HomoSEP was first developed as a final year Masters’ project by Mr. Divanshu Kumar under the guidance of Prof. Rajagopal and showcased at the IIT Madras Carbon Zerp Challenge 2019, after receiving seed support from IIT Madras’ Socially Relevant Projects initiative.
Despite the pandemic-related difficulties over the next couple of years, the IIT Madras researchers collaborated with an IIT Madras-incubated start-up Solinas Integrity Private Limited (now headed by Mr. Divanshu) to further develop HomoSEP.
This path-breaking project was supported first by several CSR donors over the years, starting with WIN Foundation in 2019 for initial prototype development.
Between 2019-20, GAIL (India) supported further product development and CapGemini supported efforts towards miniaturization and portability of the robot, through their CSR initiatives.
Over the last year, NSE Foundation and L&T Technology Services Foundation have commissioned the fabrication and distribution of 8 and 2 numbers of HomoSEP robots respectively, again through CSR support.
The HomoSEP Robot can homogenize the hard sludge in septic tanks through custom-developed rotary blade mechanism and pump the tank slurry using an integrated suction mechanism.
Sanitation Workers will be able to operate the HomoSEP on their own, after being provided with the relevant training and appropriate guidance along with necessary safety measures, both of which our team is working on right now.
Safety plays a vital role in this whole procedure, starting with the design of HomoSEP itself.
Mr. Bhavesh Narayani, Product Lead, Solinas Integrity, the Startup partner said the path from a Laboratory product to deploying a robot in a real Septic Tank field is fraught with difficulties.
Ms. Nandini Dasgupta, Vice President, Alumni and Corporate Relations, Office of Institutional Advancement, IIT Madras said.
“I wish to congratulate Prof Prabhu and the team at Solinas for developing the HomoSEP. It restores dignity to the people who have worked in one of the most dehumanized and fatal environments due to extreme poverty and discrimination”.
Dr Deepthi Sukumar, National core team member of Safai Karamchari Andolan (SKA) added “SKA, a movement against manual scavenging, has been campaigning for the mechanization of all sewerage work.
This is history in the making when Ms. Nagamma, a widow of a person who died in a septic tank becomes the owner and an entrepreneur of mechanised septic tank cleaning services.
Nagamma with the support of SKA is initiating the ‘Safai Karmachari Enterprises’ comprising of members who are former septic tank cleaners and family members of persons who were killed in manual scavenging.
This enterprise will focus on changing lives of Safai Karmachari communities with dignified livelihoods providing mechanised sanitation solutions to stop manual scavenging deaths and will engage with IIT Madras for their technical expertise and support.”
