In Kota, Rajasthan, a 17-year-old named Aryan Singh has devised an all-purpose robot to help farmers assess soil and crop health, determine water requirements, and identify pests, states a report by PTI.
Aryan built this AgRobot at his school's Atal Tinkering Lab, a government initiative to help school children hone their building skills.
According to PTI, the son of a farmer, Aryan dedicated four years to perfecting the robot which won him the Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar under the Science and Technology category.
Amongst a pool of recipients comprising nine boys and ten girls from 18 states and Union Territories (UTs), Aryan was the only boy from Rajasthan, states PTI.
On January 22nd of this year, he received the award from President Droupadi Murmu in New Delhi.
"I belong to a farming family, grew up watching my grandparents and parents working in the field. While studying in Class X, I conceived the idea of developing a multi-task device and later developed a prototype that can reduce farmers' labour in the field," Aryan told PTI.
After submitting his idea to the Atal Innovation Mission of NITI Ayog, the boy received acclaim for his invention from Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomer, Speaker Om Birla, an MP from Rajasthan, and the Lok Sabha.
"The AgRobot is able to perform multiple tasks like cutting, irrigation, loading, soil-tracking etc," Aryan said, adding that he has received over 15 national and international awards and appreciation for his innovation. Though building the prototype cost him Rs 50,000, "it will cost less when manufactured in large numbers", he said.
AgRobot has cameras installed to assess the health of the crop. Additionally, a dropper on top aids the farmer by minimising human labour by dispersing seeds and providing irrigation in the field. In order to assist farmers in evaluating the condition of their soil and searching for pests, the robot is also outfitted with soil moisture sensors. He said that the robot makes use of artificial intelligence that has been educated on various farming datasets. It is also remotely controllable.