2017-07-04 Ericsson innovation awards Girls who innovate submissions age category: 9 - 12 How can technology help the way we produce food and reduce world hunger?

Muskan – The green-goodness "There are over 7.5 billion people on Planet Earth and a little under 800 million go to bed hungry. The result of the polluted ecosystem and climate change has caused challenges of growing enough nutritious and healthy food for everyone. The Green-Goodness is a transportable, self-contained smart box capable of growing vegetables and fruits inside of it. The small box opens up into adjustable size of 6ft. x 4 ft x 2 ft box. It comes with organic fertilizer, conditioned soil, and a variety of seeds. The IOT sensors in the box receives weather forecast and reads soil and plant health related data. Using these data sets, the sensor will recommend needed care for the plants optimal growth. One box could feed up to 8-12 people, so with every 50-100 such boxes in a small community, they can grow their food. The Polli-farmers are an army of mini drones. These drones can collect pollen and cross pollinate crops of flowers & fruits in farms. This reduces dependency on bees population, guarantees cross pollination for every single plant and speed-up pollination process. This will accelerate the crop cycles and increase crop production up by 25%.Many lake water bodies are unusable for irrigation due to harmful organisms living in them. The Bacteria-Bomb can turn this water into irrigable and avail new water sources for growing more food. The idea is to draw infected water into the retention pond. The smart sensors will identify types of bacteria presence in the water and dispense the treatment via sprayers across the pond. Once sensors detect water as safe for irrigation, it releases water to channels towards crop fields.”

Muskan 1st prize To learn what is the secret of obtaining impressive crops, click here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/f8eik8uwt3trtdi/Muskan%20The%20Green%20Goodness%201.pdf?dl=0

Samiksha – micro farm "Modular micro farm: 'Give a man a fish you feed him for a day; teach him to fish you feed him for lifetime. 'The poor do not have access to food because they don’t have money. Providing them with food every day is not sustainable. The solution is to create employment so they earn money. What I am proposing here is a micro farming solution that can be used to cultivate food. It can be equally effective in urban as well as rural areas. In urban areas, where space is at a premium, these micro farms can be installed on rooftops. Different types of food grains can be cultivated. The idea is to develop this into a community farming, so excess crop is exchanged for money for other basic needs. The figure depicts a micro farm module. It consists of a soil bed with embedded sensors that can detect the water and other minerals in the soil and sends information to the controller. The controller can then use the spider dispenser to dispense water or pesticide or fertilizer from the storage to any area on the soil bed. The entire unit is powered by a solar panel. The dispenser can also sow seeds. Various alerts like ready for harvest can also be set from the controller. The entire process is automated. For bootstrapping the process one or more modules of micro farm and supplies must be procured. This can be done with aid (from government or voluntary agencies) or with micro finance."

Samiksha - visualization 2nd prize

Molly – power to the people ”My idea is called Power to the People. All around the world there are communities and small farmers who go hungry and are in need of food. We could give them a bag of rice which would not last too long or we could give them a way to produce the food they need for the rest of their lives. So this is how my idea works. A community is hungry and cant afford food. It doesn't have water, power or other technology that it needs so it can not produce its own food. One day they hear about a website called Power to the People. Here small farmers and struggling communities can find the technology they need, investors to help them and maybe even shops to sell their products too. The farmers could put together the package of technolgy they need on the website including small solar power generators, wind turbines, water pumps and who knows what else. Investors ,who want to play their part in stopping world hunger, can then help with the financial part and suppliers from all around the world get to sell their products to a worthy cause. Maybe we could also have a program where they can sell some produce to a big supermarket chain that supports small farmers to make some extra money for the community and maybe even pay back some money to the generous investors. The website would be ran by volunteers who want to help. Power to the People helping the hungry.”

3rd prize Molly - visualization Watch Molly’s video here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/hdn310fwrdsh5tw/Video.MOV?dl=0

Diana – farming truck distinction ”My idea is to optimize the organic wastes that are produced daily in shopping centers, markets to create compost, obtain fertilizer more naturally and seeds that serve to harvest. This would consist of a truck where the back would have a section with containers, it would have a separation of organic waste, at the top it would have a base where seeds are placed to dry, also a container that each determined time will rotate to combine the left compound to allow oxygenation of its components. At the top it would have solar panels to generate Energy to function, and on their sides would a sprinkler to moisturize the compost, the entire process managed from the inside of the cabin. Its design consists of a unit that allows to reach places of hard access, rural places, providing a benefit for a greater number of inhabitants.” distinction

2017-07-04