Chennai: It was "borewell robot", an indigenous device developed by a Madurai-based social worker, that saved a 3-year old boy who fell into an abandoned borewell in a village in Tirunelveli in southern Tamil Nadu.

For M Manigandan, who along with his team is involved in operations to save children who accidentally fall into borewells, the rescue of the boy on April 14 marked the first success with his device.