KUALA LUMPUR: Two Selangor siblings have developed a method allowing travellers to keep their plants hydrated while on long holidays.
Suthiksha Baloo, 12, and her brother Narashimma Naidu Baloo, 10, created a Bluetooth-enabled plant-watering system that allowed users to irrigate their plants remotely using smart devices.
In reality, the SK Taman Megah team intended to broaden their system’s wireless connections to incorporate Wi-Fi services.
If the technology is successful, customers would be able to water their plants at home from anywhere in the country.
The smart plant-watering method developed by Suthiksha and Narashimma was also suited for irrigating crops on small and medium-sized farms. Their inventive innovation won a gold prize at the Asian Innovative Science, Environmental, and Entrepreneur Fair, which took place from February 2 to 5 in Semarang, Indonesia.
Their smart irrigation system won first place, beating out 447 entrants and teams from 20 nations.
Rajeswari Narasingam, 51, said her children were interested in innovations after they began attending Internet of Things (IoT) lessons geared for young children in 2020.
“Honestly, IoT is Greek to me. So, at first, I was afraid my children might get bored over the technical skills taught in the classes. But, they gradually gained confidence and became more enthusiastic to invent and innovate.
“In the last two years, Suthiksha and Narashimma have won 11 gold, three silver and four bronze medals at innovation competitions that were held virtually in India, Turkey and Nigeria,” she mentioned.
The Malaysia Innovation, Invention and Creativity Association (MIICA), according to Rajeswari, was instrumental in motivating her children to market their innovations on worldwide platforms.
“During the early stages of their project, MIICA evaluated Suthiksha and Narashimma’s work, offered constructive inputs and challenged them to develop world-class innovations.
“Due to their inputs, some judges even commended the smart plant-watering system as ‘equivalent to a doctorate (PhD) project’ that led them to win the gold medal,” she said.
