This multi-purpose ‘Farm Robot’ will take care from sowing to harvesting

Hyderabad: Here is an innovation that might do away with manual labour in agriculture. ‘Farm Robot’ launched by Hyderabad-based start-up ‘Opal Cyber Solutions’ is an automated agriculture tool, which can do everything from sowing to harvesting.

Mr. T Manmohan, founder of the start-up, explains, “Farm Robot is equipped to carry out activities like sowing, watering, weed-detection and soil-sensing. It is designed in such a way that no human intervention is required starting from sowing of the seed till harvesting.”

Manmohan worked for a year on this product and expects to sell around 300 ‘Farm Robots’ by this year.

How does it function?

He explains, “Just a switch or a click is the only human intervention that needed for it to get going. The robot can be switched on using a mobile app from any corner of the world.”

Once the robot is switched on, the functions can be assigned to the machine using the app. According to the function assigned, it starts doing the job. It takes stock of the progress on a day to day basis and updates the owner through the app besides checking for weed and insects with the camera attached to it. The owner can then take decisions on what pesticides to use.

The machine is specially developed for square-feet based farming, said Manmohan. Square-feet farming in a technique in which a square-feet area is raised and acts as a mini-farm. The raised area is enclosed with wooden racks and the soil there can be made nutrient-rich, to grow specific type of farms. This technique is usually used in urban areas, with less space, says Manmohan. “The product has been designed specifically keeping urban spaces in mind,” he added.

The ‘Farm Robot’ can be installed in an area of 5x5 feet and in that space around 30 varieties of corps can be grown. The set-up will cost around Rs 2.50 lakh.

Manmohan has showcased his robot in Mumbai, Coimbatore and New Delhi.