AURABot

25/07/2026

Shared my idea of the project with Claude, along with a couple of pictures of the pond. The constraints shared by Claude was the depth of the pond as well as if it would be seasonally dried up, once the time for presentation arrives. Visited the pond at 1 AM with Alen, dipped a midrib of the coconut frond, and found out that the first constraint was invalid. We found out that the stalk already dipped 3-4 feet.

26/07/2026

Talked with a local about the pond.

He shared valuable insights.

• The drainage pipe is too high for the water to flow out instead of stagnating. The only way that the water drains out is the gaps between the stone wall surrounding the pond.
• The variety of algae growing in this pond is Pond Scum, which grows from beneath, so only surface level cleaning is not the way to remove it.
• There might be a lot of waste in the bottom of the pond.
• There is rumor that, budget is allocated by the local municipality to cleanup the pond.
• About 5 years ago, the pond was cleaned by municipality, spending about 40 lakhs. They didn't complete the process, leaving behind some of the materials like sand and pebbles.
• It might need to be drained fully.
• Once cleaned enough to be able to accessible, the algae in the pond could go extinct by itself.
• He is concerned by the fishes dying because previously the fishes died when some team tried to cleanup earlier.
• He mentioned that there were a lot of children who used to jump to the pond, but once the water started getting dirty, the children stopped coming and then it compounded to getting dirtier until the current state.
• His first response when I approached him with the idea of cleaning the pond was, "You need to to ask the permission of the municipality", revealing a sort of hostility from the locals.

Did a field trip to answer some of the questions posed by Claude. The questions were regarding

1. The height/depth of the pond.
2. If any fishes are alive inside the pond.
3. What type algae lives inside there

We dipped a fishing line with a stone tied to its end into the pond is 5 feet, although this could slightly vary towards the center of the pond. The drainage outlet of the pond is placed at 8 feet and that's why the water is stagnant.

Fishes are alive inside the pond. We can see visible signs like the fish surfacing randomly. The much more clear sign is seeing people with fishing lines waiting on its coast regularly.

The type of Algae is the biggest concern we should be having, because that determines the structure and design of the AURABot. We need to contact experts.

I got the chance to talk to another local, Latheef, who also raised concerns about the possible after-effects of the proposed intervention. Similar to what his father had mentioned during my earlier visit, he recalled an incident in which students from AICET College had previously conducted an experiment on the same pond. According to him, a large number of fish died approximately two days after the experiment, and an oily film was observed on the surface of the water.

These accounts highlight the importance of carefully assessing the potential ecological impact of the proposed intervention, particularly its effects on fish and water quality.

The Objective: Reviving the Pond

Our aim is not simply to release a robot into the pond and demonstrate its capabilities. The real objective is to revive the pond as a functioning waterbody.

No matter how thoroughly the pond is cleaned, the effort will have limited long-term value if there is no continuous flow of water. A completely cleaned pond can deteriorate again in a short period if the water remains stagnant. It is only a matter of time before natural processes take over and the water quality declines once again.

Therefore, the proposed solution goes beyond cleaning the existing water. The objective is to restore the natural inflow and outflow of the pond, allowing fresh water to enter and excess water to leave through the existing outlet. This would enable the pond to maintain a more natural cycle and gradually sustain itself rather than depending entirely on periodic cleaning.

Recent developments around the pond have unintentionally made it easier to divert the water surrounding the pond directly into a nearby drain. This drain was originally intended to carry away the overflow from the pond, rather than bypassing the inflow that could replenish it.

At present, the water flow that could effectively bring the pond back to life is being completely bypassed by the existing drainage system. Restoring this connection could therefore be just as important as cleaning the pond itself.

The goal is not merely to make the pond clean; it is to make the pond function again.

Rethinking the Robot Design

I spoke with Kurian today to get his opinion on the material that could be used to build the boat. After looking at the design, he suggested that fiberglass could be used for the hull. However, I realised that this approach may not be the most viable option for this project.

Instead, Kurian suggested that I approach the project from a completely different perspective.

Since this is an open-source project, why should I approach the design as if I am building a finished commercial product?

The robot should ideally be something that anyone can replicate using easily available, locally sourced materials and simple 3D-printable components. This makes the project more accessible, practical, and aligned with the principles of open-source development.

In my case, this means moving away from spending too much effort on designing and fabricating a sophisticated hull. Instead, a large PVC pipe could be used as the basic floating structure, with the important components mounted on top of it. The focus should be on making the core functionality of the robot work reliably rather than making the entire system look like a finished commercial product.

Initially, I was thinking differently. Since the BIR cohort is sponsored by Circuit Digest, and they would also be present on the demo day, I felt that I needed to present something that looked like a finished product, similar to Clearbot.

The conversation with Kurian helped me realise that I had been approaching the project upside down.

The first priority should not be the appearance or construction of the boat. Instead, I should first focus on the critical components that need to execute the primary function of the robot perfectly.

The most important function of the robot is collecting waste from the pond.

• Conveyor Mechanism – collects and lifts the waste from the water.
• Waste Collection Bin – receives and stores the collected waste.

Therefore, these should be the first components to be designed and validated.

The next step is to study the waste-collection mechanism used by Clearbot, break it down into its individual components, and understand how the conveyor mechanism and waste collection bin can be recreated using simple, accessible, and locally sourceable materials.

The goal is to build the functionality first, and the product around it later.