ABOUT CARBON ZERO CHALLENGE :
Carbon Zero Challenge (CZC) is a competition held by IIT madras that aims to trigger novel ideas towards developing carbon neutral systems to serve major sectors which are plagued by energy and environmental challenges. The thematic areas are;Agriculture, Industries, Transportation systems, Urban Areas & Cities, and Water &Waste management. The grand challenge posed to the competing teams was to develop a grid free /alternative system which is economically viable, socially acceptable, environment friendly, and easily replicable in multiple areas. The challenge is to understand the energy needs of these sectors and develop a sustainable green energy alternative by combination of one or more renewable energy sources.
From over 1000 entries nationally , Team MAGMA has been shortlisted for the final 24 teams to be selected to present their project prototype at the demo day of the competition.
ABOUT TEAM MAGMA :
The team consists of the following 5 students (passed out 2018 batch) of the Dept of Mechanical Engineering with Mr M Arul Inigo Raja as faculty adviser.
- Team Lead :S Bala Surya
- ArjunJayaprakash
- AgasthyaRaghavan
- Joseph George
- Bevin T Abraham.
- Local Mentor : M Arul Inigo Raja.
– Dept of Mechanical Engineering
PROJECT DESCRIPTION :
MAGMA stands for “ Multi- functional Agro Gantry Machine Assembly”.
It is an electrically powered agricultural machine that can help farmers with agricultural operations like tilling, sowing seeds etc.
This project aims to offer a cheaper and cleaner alternative to the modern day tractor. Majority of the farmers in India own land areas less than one Hectare and cannot afford heavy duty machines like tractors and rely on manual / animal labor. This project is intended to cater the needs of these farmers and is designed for small fields.
It consists of the main gantry frame assembly which is driven by electrical motors powered by an on board battery pack.
Different ” agricultural modules” for different purposes( seed drill, tiller etc) can be attached as per the need .
The main concept we are aiming for in this product is“modularity”, where the farmer can “choose” the modules he wants for his field ( according to what he is farming)and fit modules that are tailor made for him/her to the base gantry frame.
DEMO DAY
The demo day was held at IIT Madras from June 5th 2019 to June 7th 2019 where the finalist teams arrived with their project and presented them in their respective stalls.
Our team was visited by various important dignitaries and received very positive as well as critical feedback about our project and it’s path to commercialization and entrepreneurship. The team also received interests from potential investors and entrepreneurs and shared contact details for future communication.
