SCRUB
Autonomous Lake Cleanup · RVCE Bengaluru
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India's lakes
deserve better.
You found it. So did we. 🌊
01
SCRUB · Investor Deck · 2026
The Lakes Are
Dying.
We Built the Fix.
Autonomous, solar-powered surface robot for continuous lake cleanup and real-time water quality monitoring. India-built for India's 5,000+ urban water bodies.
856
Lakes lost in Bengaluru since 1937
5,000+
Urban water bodies in India
02
The Problem
A crisis hiding
in plain sight
Bengaluru went from 937 lakes in 1937 to fewer than 81 today. Manual cleanup reaches only 18% of lakes monthly. A 4-person team working 8 hours collects ~50 kg. The waste returns in 48 hours.

At current trajectory, Bengaluru will have no functional lakes by 2045. Every major Indian city is on the same curve.

  • 86% of tested lakes exceed safe BOD levels
  • 72% of lake surface covered in floating plastic
  • No continuous, scalable, zero-emission cleanup exists
03
The Solution
SCRUB —
Autonomous.
Solar. Unstoppable.
AI-guided surface robot with SS316L conveyor belt, 90%+ debris detection accuracy (YOLOv8), real-time IoT water quality monitoring, and 2-3 hour autonomous runtime per charge.
  • 5 kg collected per cycle - expected to be 20kg for the final product
  • GPS grid navigation + dual-mode RC override
  • 5 water quality sensors, GPS-tagged, streamed live
  • Zero emissions. Zero fuel. Zero chemical footprint.
04
Traction
Built. Tested.
Patent published.
Patent
Published
Core design patented · More in progress
Government
BBMP
Field coordination · Kengeri Lake · MoU in progress
Validation
TRL 4
20+ hours pool & lake testing
Institution
RVCE
Formally incubated · CSE & ME departments
05
Market Opportunity
India's ₹4,200Cr
lake cleanup market
5,000+ urban water bodies. ₹2,800 Cr annual government spend on manual lake remediation. CSR mandates from India Inc. targeting water bodies. Smart City missions in 100 cities.
5K+
Addressable water bodies in India
₹2.5L - ₹3.5L
Unit cost — 10× cheaper than imports
3
Revenue streams: SaaS + CSR + Fleet
06
The Ask
Seeking partners
to scale nationally.
Phase 2 commercial prototype (₹3.36L build) in progress. SCRUB V2 is focused on lake deployment, while SCRUB V3 — our river-cleaning bot — is now in development. Seeking institutional partners, CSR funders, field access, fabrication mentors, and government collaborators.

Email: kpurwar1234@gmail.com  ·  Phone: +91 7007633541
RVCE Bengaluru — 560 059

  • Open to: Seed funding · CSR partnerships · Government deployment
  • Two more IPs in development (filing Jun–Jul 2026)
  • Only student-built, patent-published autonomous lake robot in India
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VisionX RVEI Pre-Incubated · Patent Published Oct 2025

The Lakes Are Dying. We Built the Fix.

SCRUB is an autonomous, solar-powered surface robot that collects floating waste and monitors water quality in real time. India-built. India-scaled.

See the Robot
Scroll
0
kg collected
per cycle
0%
AI debris
detection accuracy
0
lakes lost in
Bengaluru since 1937
TRL 4
prototype
validated in field
The Crisis

India's urban lakes
are disappearing.

Bengaluru went from 937 lakes in 1937 to fewer than 81 today — a loss of over 90% in a single lifetime. The primary cause is not just urbanisation. It is the daily accumulation of plastic waste, foam, and untreated effluents that choke what remains.

Manual cleanup crews visit these lakes at most monthly. A 4-person team working 8 hours collects roughly 50 kg. The waste returns within 48 hours. It is a war of attrition that humans are losing.

At the current trajectory, Bengaluru will have no functional lakes by 2045. The same pattern repeats across every Indian tier-1 city.

SCRUB running one 9.9-hour cycle collects the equivalent of 4 manual cleanup sessions. At ₹2.5L - ₹3.5L per unit at scale, it is the only economically viable continuous intervention that exists.

BOD above safe limit86%
Lake surface covered in plastic72%
DO below fishable threshold68%
Lake area lost since 196091%
Lakes receiving monthly cleanup18%

Source: KSPCB Water Quality Reports · BBMP Lake Census 2024

The Machine

SCRUB — autonomous, solar,
unstoppable.

Every component chosen for real-world deployment in India's climate. Designed for Bengaluru's shallow lakes. Patent published. Field-tested at Kengeri Lake in coordination with BBMP.

SS316L Conveyor Al 2020 Extrusion Frame 14° Incline · 20kg/cycle ABS Hull · IP67
Engineering Specifications
Length1.0m
Width0.65m
Operational mass25kg max
Max speed0.7m/s
Battery30Ah
Runtime2-3h battery-only
Solar25Wmonocrystalline
AI detection90%precision · YOLOv8
ComputeRaspberry Pi 5+ STM32
Connectivity4G LTEreal-time dashboard
Mesh aperture2mm · aquatic-safe
01

Autonomous Navigation

Grid-based GPS pathfinding with AI obstacle avoidance. SCRUB covers a defined lake zone without human intervention, returning to dock when full.

02

Real-Time Water Quality

pH, turbidity, dissolved oxygen, TDS, and temperature — GPS-tagged at 1Hz and streamed live to a cloud dashboard accessible to BBMP officers.

03

Solar-Assisted Operation

Zero fuel cost. Solar charges the 48V LiFePO₄ pack during operation. A 9.9-hour autonomous run with zero emissions and zero chemical footprint.

04

AI Debris Classification

YOLOv8 INT8 runs at 10+ FPS on the Pi 5, identifying plastic bottles, foam, and organic matter with 90% validated precision.

05

SS316L Conveyor Mechanism

Stainless steel mesh belt at 14° incline. 20kg per collection cycle. 2mm aperture prevents any aquatic life entry. Field-proven at Kengeri Lake.

06

Dual-Mode Control

Fully autonomous AI navigation or manual RC override at any time. The operator can take control within 200ms — critical for safety near swimmers.

Next Platform

SCRUB V2 is being built
for lake deployment.

SCRUB V2 prototype platform with twin pontoons and debris collection frame
SCRUB V2 Prototype Twin Pontoon Platform Lake-Focused Build

V2 strengthens the lake bot. V3 takes on rivers.

SCRUB V2 is our next-generation lake-cleaning build: a larger, more stable platform designed to carry heavier collection hardware, improved propulsion, stronger electronics integration, and longer-duration testing in real lake conditions.

In parallel, we are working on SCRUB V3 — a dedicated river-cleaning bot built for flowing water, higher debris loads, safer retrieval, and scalable deployment across polluted urban river stretches.

V2 Target Turn SCRUB into a stronger, more reliable lake-deployment platform.
Need Mentors, fabrication help, lake access, CSR support, and deployment partners.
Focus Stability, higher payload, better lake endurance, and field-serviceable design.
V3 Direction A separate river-cleaning bot designed specifically for flowing water.
Open collaboration: If you can help with lake deployments for V2 or river-bot development for V3 — through field permissions, mechanical fabrication, embedded systems, CSR funding, environmental deployment, or mentorship — we would love to work with you.
Field Trials
SCRUB
in the water.

Footage from Kengeri Lake, Bengaluru and RVCE pool trials.

Trial Footage · Kengeri Lake
Conveyor test · Shorts
Autonomous run · Shorts
The Build

From idea to
patent in 12 months.

Sep 2024
Project Genesis
Four undergrads at RVCE identify Bengaluru's lake crisis as a solvable engineering problem. First principles design begins.
Jan 2025
Prototype v1 — Pool Trial
First working prototype tested in RVCE pool. Conveyor mechanism validated. AI debris detection runs at 10+ FPS on Raspberry Pi 5.
TRL 3 reached
Sep 2025
Patent Filed
Filed with the Indian Patent Office. Covers autonomous navigation, conveyor mechanism, and IoT water monitoring as a unified system.
IP secured
Oct 2025
Patent Published
Indian Patent Office publishes application. First student-built autonomous lake robot patent in India.
Published · IPO
Apr 2026
Kengeri Lake Trial
Autonomous run at Kengeri Lake with BBMP coordination. 20+ hours of cumulative field testing. TRL 4 validation complete.
TRL 5 · Government endorsed
Jun 2026
Commercial Prototype · Field Trial 2
₹3.36L Phase 2 build. Custom PCB v2 and second Kengeri Lake trial. SCRUB V2 platform development continues as a lake-focused deployment build.
In progress
Next Target
SCRUB V3 · River-Cleaning Bot
Develop SCRUB V3 as a ruggedized river-cleaning bot for flowing water, higher debris loads, safer retrieval, and scalable civic deployment. Actively seeking collaborators, field access, mentors, and CSR support.
Collaboration open
By the Numbers
Months from idea to patent 12
Hours of field testing 20+
IPs in development 3
Students on the team 18
Government bodies engaged 2
Two more IPs in development — Weed-puller mechanism & AI Classification PCB architecture. Target filing: Jun–Jul 2026.
Why Now

Traction & Credibility

01

Patent Published

Our core design is patented and published. More patents are currently in the pipeline as we continue to develop new mechanisms and systems.

02

BBMP Field Coordination

Official coordination with BBMP Lakes Department for trials at Kengeri Lake, Bengaluru. MoU in progress. Government endorsement letter secured for funding applications.

03

VisionX RVEI Pre-Incubation

Selected for the VisionX RVEI Pre-Incubation Program, strengthening SCRUB with structured mentorship, venture-building support, and an ecosystem for taking the technology toward deployment.

04

RVCE Institutional Incubation

Formally incubated under Department of Computer Science & Engineering, RV College of Engineering. Faculty mentorship: Dr. Shanta Rangaswami (HoD, CSE) and Dr. K. Badari Nath.

05

20+ Hours of Pool & Lake Testing

TRL 4. Core systems validated. AI debris detection at 90%+ precision on real lake footage. Water quality sensors cross-validated against laboratory standards. Autonomous navigation tested in complex obstacle environments.

06

₹3.36L Commercial Prototype in Build

Phase 1 chassis and Custom PCB v2 in fabrication . Full sensor suite procured. Field trial 2 target: June 2026.

"The only student-built, patent-published autonomous lake-cleaning robot in India — and the only one designed specifically for Indian lake conditions."

Dr. Shanta Rangaswami · HoD Computer Science · RVCE

Intellectual Property
Core Design Patented
Our flagship autonomous lake-cleaning system is fully patented and published. We are actively developing additional patents covering new mechanisms and AI architectures.
More patents in progress
Additional IPs under development — filing in progress
The Builders

Few students.
One real patent.

Undergraduate engineers from RVCE building India's first autonomous lake-cleaning robot. No supervisors. No templates. Just first principles.

Faculty Mentors
Project Leads
Team Members
Open to Funding · CSR · Partnerships · Mentorship · Field Access

Help us scale V2
and build V3.

SCRUB is seeking institutional partners, CSR funders, fabrication mentors, field-trial permissions, and government collaborators to deploy SCRUB V2 for lakes and develop SCRUB V3 as our dedicated river-cleaning bot.

Start a Conversation CSR Partnership Collaborate on River Bot
Patent Published · Oct 2025 VisionX RVEI Pre-Incubated SCRUB V2 Lake Build SCRUB V3 River Bot BBMP Partnered RVCE Incubated TRL 4 Field-Validated Zero Emissions Made in India