Winner of the XR for a Cause category at the Laval Virtual Awards 2026, the work Into the Manhole, developed by the IMXD Lab at the IDC School of Design at IIT Bombay, took home the prize awarded on 9 April at the Espace Mayenne. Held in Laval for 28 years, Europe’s largest XR event recognises the most promising XR projects each year across a range of categories. The XR for a Cause category honours projects that put immersive reality in service of social, environmental or humanitarian causes.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n Amitabh holds a law degree and is out of work. To support his family, he turns to manual scavenging, one of the most dangerous and stigmatised jobs in India. One day, he descends into a hazardous manhole without protective equipment or safety supervision. Will he survive? That is the story told by Into the Manhole, a 6DOF<\/a> experience that immerses the viewer in a fiction freely inspired by a well-documented reality.<\/p>\n\n Director Jayesh Pillai, head of the IMXD Lab, explains the choice of medium: “This is a very serious problem that still exists in India. Everyone can see that sewers are being cleaned everywhere, but nobody talks about it. It is something visible that remains invisible. We thought: why not let people experience what these men go through, in an immersive experience?” The story is fictional but grounded in rigorous documentary research, conveying the sensation of descending into the pipe, the danger, the claustrophobia.<\/p>\n\n