Zimbabwean students create automated combine harvester to revolutionise farming
Students from Zimbabwe have designed a prototype automated combine harvester to improve crop harvesting in the Southern African nation.
The self-driven combine harvester was developed by students from Zimbabwe’s Tynwald robotics team, local media The Herald reports.
14-year-old programmer and member of the robotics team Tanatswa Taremba said that the rationale behind the creation of the automated combine harvester was to solve the back pain problems that combine harvester drivers experience.
“Right now, since robotics is there, we are replacing the driver because drivers often suffer from back aches due to incorrect driving posture… Now, with an automated combine harvester, it will be easy since it can work overnight,” he said.
The students also created prototypes for two other innovative projects including a robot that can clear landmines and a lawnmower that requires little human interaction.
Darryl Mubvuma, the 15-year-old behind the robotic landmine detector said that he was motivated to build the machine after deaths caused by landmines in his neighbourhood.
“I just thought that many people are dying from demining processes, and building a robot for that would be very efficient. It has a claw, it is going to have a sensor and is designed to detect landmines,” he said.
The team is presently working on creating a robot that can make biodegradable plastic that can decompose in less than five years, according to The Herald.
