Originals · Startup · Startups & Fintech
Scrub Robotics builds autonomous boats to clean Bengaluru's lakes
The RV College of Engineering team has tested its robots at Kengeri and Madiwala lakes and is now seeking municipal pilots.
Scrub Robotics, a team incubated at RV College of Engineering in Bengaluru, is building small autonomous boats that collect floating waste from urban lakes. India Today reported in October on SCRUB V2, a design that collects rubbish without a conveyor belt: an opening lets floating waste in as the boat moves forward and closes when it reverses, so no extra motors are needed for collection.
Exceptional Technology reported that the team, led by Krishna Purwar, has a fleet of designs. SCRUB V1 is a solar-assisted twin-hull cleaner with a conveyor. Operators mark points on a map and the boat navigates by GPS, using AI vision to spot waste. The team says its latest prototype collects up to 25 kg per trip, with a range of 500 metres and up to five hours of runtime. SCRUB V4 measures pH, dissolved solids and turbidity and maps water quality across a lake.
India Today reported that SCRUB V1 was field-tested at Kengeri Lake with the city corporation, and Exceptional Technology reported trials at Madiwala Lake in September 2026 and a published patent application. A river interceptor, SCRUB V3, is in development. India Today cautioned that removing surface waste does not fix sewage or pollution at the source, and that V2 still has to prove itself in longer field trials.
