Robot to rescue kids trapped in borewell developed in India

Back in July 2006, almost all of India got glued to the television screens as the national media aired the rescue operation of the 5-year old kid, named Prince, who was stuck in a 55 foot deep borewell. It took the rescuers a total of 49 hours to successfully rescue Prince. Since then there have been several incidents where the innocent kids trapped inside borewell could not be saved. These incidents made M. Maniknandan of the TVS Community College (department of Electrical and Plumbing) think of a solution that'd help in rescue missions. He and his team have engineered a borewell robot capable of rescuing kids safely and in a very effective way.


Last month, the team already helped rescue G. Harshan, a kid trapped in a borewell near Sankarankoil. The abandoned borewells have become death traps for many kids. In order to rescue kids, Maniknandan have adopted an innovative approach. The robot has been fitted with a high-resolution camera which is first lowered into the borewell to determine the exact location and surroundings. There's an arm at the end of the structure which is lowered into the pit using ropes. The team has developed different types of arms that can be fitted to pull out the child depending on his/her position inside the pit.

While we all hope that the need to use the borewell robot should never arise and all kids should stay safe; we acknowledge that this problem is going to persist unless people become sensible enough to ensure that borewells aren't left unattended. We'd like to encourage our fellow engineers to think of innovative mechanisms in which robotics can be used for similar rescue missions.

We look forward to receiving your ideas.

Source: <a href="https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Madurai/robot-with-a-human-touch/article5930888.ece" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Robot with a human touch - The Hindu</a>