Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru
Mangaluru, Oct 8: A 17-year-old boy Sarthak S Kumar hailing from Mangaluru has developed a prototype robot 'AgriBot' which helps farmers in giving information regarding crop choice and growth steps by analyzing soil properties from the field.
'AgriBot' currently is a prototype locomotive that collects soil moisture, temperature and humidity readings from different areas of the field and provides suitable information to a farmer regarding crop choice and growth.
Presently Sarthak is pursuing his second PUC at Expert PU College Kodialbail. He is more inclined towards Robotics, Algorithms, Computer Aided Designing, 3D Modeling, Artificial Intelligence, Entrepreneurship, Innovation Startups, Research, Computer Programming, Ethical Hacking, Data Integration and Management, Health Facilities and Agriculture.
He has also been helping students of his age group do several science projects and help them develop a passion for change in society.
The first prototype has resistive soil moisture sensors, DHT 11 Temperature sensor and an Ultrasonic sensor to collect moisture, temperature and obstacle distance values.
The project was exhibited at EngiConnect 2019 at NITK and Pre unique 2019 in St Aloysius College in 2019.
Apart from AgriBot, Sarthak has done projects such as the Swachh bin, a prototype dustbin which could be kept in a car. The speciality of this bin is that it can compress waste added to it so that it can make more space for the rest of the waste to be added and would also make it easy to dispose off later. He pitched for this idea in Innoventure 2018, an ideation and entrepreneurship challenge held at Pune. His other projects include the Ideal Home Security system, Prototypical Agriculture system etc.
Speaking to Daijiworld.com Sarthak S Kumar said, "AgriBot as a whole, is a locomotive which will go around the field, collect respective readings by coming to a stop at predetermined waypoints. The values will be sent to an app interface along its course on the field. The interface later processes these readings referring to a pre-built database and is bound to give suitable information relating to soil properties and further guidance for cultivation of the chosen crop."
He also said, "This was done out of my interest with the help and assistance of my mentor Akshay Adyanthaya. The prototype of AgriBot was done when I was in first PUC along with two of my friends. This idea was the result of my previous project on agriculture. That is when I learnt that technology which is used in other sectors could be incorporated into agriculture as well. We would get more precise and dependable readings and could also reduce time and work taken to get the same soil tested for its properties in a soil lab. I want to make this solution a viable one because many native agriculturists have an opinion that modern technology is not affordable and dependable but fail to realize it could revolutionize agriculture if implemented and trained to work in the right way.
"My basic idea is an interface that coordinates incorporated technology to provide smart guidance to a farmer for a successful yield. Developing the robot has come out of creativity and it is just a part of the system I am planning about. It will suggest the farmers and help overcome common problems most agriculturists face. I target to make it so dependable and independent that will be in a place to enable those who don’t have any idea about agriculture to carry out cultivation", said Sarthak.
"Since this is the first prototype, we can expect it to show significant deviations of readings from actual properties of the soil. I will also have to rely on small centres and keep developing prototypes, reach people, see insights, take opinions, changes and advice people have to give, as I believe doing so would help me come up with a best-fit solution for the prevalent problems in agriculture," he added.
When asked about the changes made in the second prototype," I am working on its body of the robot since it was very small and cannot work on a real agricultural field. I am using the rocker-bogie mechanism which will help it move in rough lands and terrains. I am adding capacitive Soil Moisture Sensors, Thermocouples to give more accurate soil moisture values and read the soil temperature respectively. At the same time, I am planning to implement LORA WAN communication which has a long-range and better than Bluetooth on several lines. I am also working on the app in the android studio as the previous app was made using that MIT App Inventor which has very basic UI and cannot be used commercially" said Sarthak.
Sarthak thanks his teachers, parents and friends for their consistent support and co-operation for his projects and endeavours. He especially thanks DTLabz and Sahyadri College for their encouragement and support for his projects.