Agribot created by P.E.S College of Engineering students
Agribot created by P.E.S College of Engineering students. Students of the Department of Industrial & Production Engineering P.E.S College of Engineering, Mandya, have designed & fabricated an agricultural robot – Agribot for seed sowing & a sprinkling of fertilizers & water.
Introducing advanced technology in agriculture will surely enable farmers to get a higher yield. The most difficult tasks in the farming process are sowing, cropping, irrigation & cutting.
The purpose of automation is to eradicate the human clerical effort and to provide accuracy in the operations.
Automation in agriculture is still in the developing stage due to a lack of technical knowledge, advanced technology & machinery. Hence using new technology in farming activity may provide greater support to farmers in seed sowing, fertilizing & also a sprinkling of water.
Features of Agribot
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The Agribot comprises a sowing and water/fertilizer sprinkling system. A sprinkling of water is mainly based on weather conditions (temperature, humidity & rainfall). The Agribot starts to work once it receives the signal from an android app (Blynk), using a Wi-Fi module.
The robot’s speed and directions can be controlled through blynk. The user has a facility to get weather details on the app. If the humidity is more, the sprinkler automatically sprinkles more water. Likewise, when rain is detected, the sprinkler is automatically turned off.
Seed sowing distance can also be controlled through the app with necessary changes in the code. There are separate buttons for navigation – right, left, front, and back. If any obstacles are found in the way, the vehicle’s motion is interrupted & an alert message is displayed on the screen. The entire operation of the vehicle is carried out using rechargeable batteries.
The Agribot is designed by K.A. Krupa, K.P. Gowtham Gowda, D.R. Chidambar, and H.C. Pramoda. guided by Dr. B.S. Shivakumara of Department of Industrial & Production Engineering, P.E.S College of Engineering.
Challenges
The overall cost of this prototype is ₹10,000. This can be used for crops like ragi, paddy, tomato, beans, cucumber, peas, groundnut, etc. In general, 15 laborers cover over around 2 to 2.5 acres per day which costs over ₹6,000 (considering an average pay of
₹400 per day). The proposed single prototype covers around 1.25 acres to 1.50 acres per day.
If this is to be manufactured into a real-time vehicle, then various parts and designs need to be replaced accordingly so as to fit the larger agricultural requirements. Thus the cost might be approximately ₹45,000 to ₹50,000.
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Future scope
This can be further improved by providing a ploughing tool to plough the land which is followed by seed sowing and sprinkling. Also, solar panels can be used for energy supply through batteries, the students said.
This provides a complete package for farmers along with energy & water conservation and is a one-time investment & can be used constantly. This apart, if one person in a village buys this, then he can rent it to others which is an economical way for other farmers too, team added.
