Problem Statement

Farmers and agricultural researchers face significant challenges in manually monitoring soil conditions across large and diverse plots of land. Traditional soil monitoring methods are time-consuming, inconsistent, and prone to human error. These limitations result in ineffective irrigation scheduling, poor crop health assessment, and resource wastage. There is a critical need for an affordable, scalable, and automated solution that can continuously track key soil parameters to enable smarter, data-driven agricultural decisions.

Idea

We propose Kheti Insight, a smart, mobile soil monitoring robot equipped with environmental sensors and controlled by an ESP32 microcontroller. This robot can autonomously navigate across farmland or research plots to gather real-time data on soil moisture, air temperature, and humidity. The collected data helps in precision farming by supporting efficient irrigation, fertilization, and crop planning.

Objectives

• Automate Soil Monitoring:
  Eliminate manual soil checks by automating the process using onboard sensors and robotics.
• Improve Irrigation Decisions:
  Provide accurate, real-time soil moisture data to optimize water usage in farming.
• Enable Mobility:
  Design a mobile chassis capable of traversing different terrain to cover large farming areas.
• Ensure Real-time Data Processing:
  Use an ESP32 to read sensor data and enable potential wireless transmission or local storage.
• Promote Sustainable Agriculture:
  Support farmers with affordable tools aligned with sustainable practices and smart agriculture.
• Educational and Scalable Model:
  Develop a prototype that can be used for educational purposes and scaled for field-level use.

 Final Solution

The Smart Soil Monitoring Robot consists of the following core components:

• ESP32 Development Board for controlling the system and processing data

• DHT22 Sensor to measure air temperature and humidity

• Capacitive Soil Moisture Sensor to detect moisture levels in the soil

• DC Motors + L298N Motor Driver to provide mobility across different field patches

• Chassis to house and support all hardware components

• Battery Pack for portable power supply

The robot navigates autonomously and collects environmental data, which is either displayed in real time or stored for future analysis. The system is modular, cost-effective, and ideal for enhancing decision-making in agriculture, especially in resource-constrained regions.

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