A group of researchers at IIT Kharagpur has invented a new vehicle with mechanical a broom that operates with the help of a battery and solar power to clean roads and public places, an official said on Friday.
The vehicle, named, Sammarjak MB 4.2, uses two mechanized brooms and has been passed in its first the trial successfully conducted across the 2,100-acre campus of the institute during the ongoing lockdown. Director of IIT Kharagpur, Prof. Virendra K Tewari has planned to deploy vehicle on campus as the authority expects to face a shortage of cleaning staff, a spokesperson of the Institute said.
Director said, “We had restricted entry of a significant section of the workforce to our campus since late March. Further, we have reassigned some cleaning staff toward sanitizing the key areas in the campus which are frequented by the residents. But considering our campus size we needed a substantial number of sanitization workers and this gap is being filled by the automatizing the brooming system
across all the pathways.”
Tewari said that with this invention, we can avoid disruption or slowing down of productivity that arises due to fewer labourers. He emphasised on the importance of automation in the industry as well as community maintenance mechanisms for society. As automation causes a reduction in the workforce, he said automation will bring opportunities that will create new avenues.
