CHITTOOR: Farmers are the backbone of the nation, but lack of mechanisation has forced the same farmers to work for hours with less productivity. Aiming to reduce the cost of cultivation, and workload burdening the farmers for ages and to overcome the shortage of agricultural labour, students of Madanapalle Institute of Technology and Science (MITS) Engineering College have come up with a project benefitting the farming community.
The students have invented a solar-powered robotic semi-weed cutter that can be controlled with a remote, decreasing the workload on the farmers drastically. Students Kumar, Lokesh, Rupesh, and Lalit Venkat Sai from the Department of mechanical engineering teamed up and started manufacturing the machine under the guidance of Professor Muppa Lakshmana Rao and Assistant Professor H Raghavendra Rao.
“The machine, designed using an AT 238 per cent micro cooler, two DC motors, an Arduino board, ultrasonic sensors, a solar panel, a 12-volt battery, a three-wheeled cart, and a pair of scissors, works by absorbing sunlight. The weed cutter connected to the battery cuts the weeds, which earlier requires huge manpower costing the hard-earned resources of the farmers,” said Kumar.
The sensors in the machine will remove only the weeds without causing any damage to the main crop, the team added. It is to be noted that the machine was manufactured with less than Rs 15,000.
“With the lack of farm labourers, the ryots are forced to spend lakhs of rupees to make the farmland weed-free. With this machine, which will cost up to Rs 5 lakh in the open market, the farmers will be able to clear the weeds in no time,” said Lokesh. Correspondent Vijaya Bhaskar Choudary, principal C Yuvraj and faculty members appreciated the students.