Meet Mahi, 17: The Delhi student teaching robots to keep India clean
On a 2023 school trip to Delhi’s Sundar Nursery, Class 12 student Mahi Malhani noticed waste lying around even near dustbins. That moment sparked an idea: use technology to make cleanup easier, not just ask people to do it.
India generates over 1.7 lakh tonnes of solid waste daily, with less than 60% treated. For Mahi, the litter at the heritage park showed the problem was both habit and convenience.
She began sketching a robot that could detect waste, move to it, and sort it. With guidance from Rancho Labs at IIT Delhi and her school teacher Mrs Deepshikha Sethi, she built TRASHbot. The robot uses a camera and YOLOv3 AI to identify waste as biodegradable or non-biodegradable. Ultrasonic sensors help it avoid obstacles, while a smartphone app lets users control it or set it to roam on its own. A Raspberry Pi acts as the brain and an Arduino as the muscles. Cost came down from Rs 20,000 to Rs 7,000.
TRASHbot was first tested at home, then in Mahi’s school cafeteria, and later in Noida residential societies and Udaipur municipal corporation. It identifies waste with 85% accuracy, sorts correctly 90% of the time, and avoids obstacles 98% of the time. Battery lasts about 2.5 hours.
Since March 2025, 15-20 people have used it directly. Residents say it makes daily waste management effortless and encourages cleaner habits.
The project has won awards too — 1st in Delhi and 2nd in India at the 2025 World Robot Olympiad, and a spot in the top 50 AI projects at India AI Impact Summit.
