“Most city households battle to take care of a backyard round their home and even take care of a couple of vegetation in their very own balcony,” says Santosh Shet, who has greater than a decade of expertise within the IT business underneath his sleeve.
“We additionally confronted related points after we had been working or travelling, and had a tough time sustaining a wholesome balcony backyard. So we began searching for a sensible resolution for individuals who don’t have time to water their vegetation recurrently,” Santosh tells The Higher India.
Although he liked working with computer systems, had a ardour for electronics, and was employed with a number of tech giants as a software program developer for a few years, Santosh ultimately determined to stop his job to spend extra time along with his household.
He and his spouse Deepika had been optimistic about doing one thing on their very own. After a number of brainstorming, they conceived a novel thought of constructing an automatic drip-irrigation system for offering watering options to city gardens.
After working for nearly a yr, the couple developed a water automation system. It runs on an IoT (Web of Issues) platform that may be operated from wherever, anytime utilizing an internet site or a cell app.
Love for innovation
Santosh says, “The IT job gave me a number of nice alternatives, however a couple of years in the past I realised that it was time for me to modify my profession. I had a tricky time within the preliminary section of the pandemic, as I used to be in Eire and my spouse and three-year-old daughter had been in India. This made me lastly name it quits.”
After leaving his job in early 2022, Santosh and Deepika spent months developing with a stable and workable thought. However the thought didn’t hit them immediately, says Deepika, additionally a former IT worker who took a break from work to maintain her youngster.
“I keep in mind round 5 years again, once I was pregnant and at my dad and mom’ house in Udupi, Santosh was staying all by himself. I had a number of vegetation on my balcony and I had requested him to water them recurrently. However Santosh was extraordinarily busy along with his work and infrequently forgot to water them. Once I was again, I might solely see wilted vegetation. This was after we found the watering subject for the primary time,” she says.
The couple began engaged on conceptualising and implementing the concept collectively in April 2022. “It wasn’t straightforward to work on one thing from scratch. Deepika and I had been in it collectively and needed to face a number of ups and downs,” Santosh says.
Deepika says, “We had been lastly in a position to provide you with a working prototype by September 2022 and examined our product within the following months. At the moment, now we have a ultimate product which is able to be put in.”
App-based system to water vegetation remotely
Named ‘Ukshati Automation System’, Santosh and Deepika’s startup is all set to register as a non-public restricted firm. They are saying they’re planning to use for a patent for his or her product quickly. Their “one-of-a-kind” system serves as a watering resolution for each giant and small gardens, together with terrace and balcony gardens.
In response to Santosh, their main objective behind creating this system was to make watering straightforward for folks and scale back wastage. “The system is a WiFi drip controller. In layman’s phrases, it may very well be outlined as an Web-connected faucet that permits folks to water their vegetation on a scheduled foundation,” he explains.
“It permits the person to set the time for watering the vegetation. They’ll additionally set the period for which the plant needs to be watered. The system runs on batteries and may be managed both by means of our web site or by means of our cell app, which additionally notifies the person of all of the related updates,” elaborates Santosh.
“Customers can retailer their watering historical past on the web site and even change the system — on or off — from a distinct location,” he provides.
Not simply that, the couple additionally customises the water supply system in line with buyer wants. “With regards to balconies and terrace gardens, there is a matter of discovering a water supply. To deal with such points, now we have constructed a water-tank-based watering system, the place the person can retailer water and use it accordingly. The system notifies the person when the tank will get empty,” says Santosh.
As a acutely aware step in the direction of lowering water wastage, they’ve additionally developed a tank system positioned inside a hexagonal picket field. “The water from the RO purification items and AC compressors is commonly wasted. So, we set the tank in such a method that it’s collected within the tank. This water is then used to water the vegetation, thereby placing it to higher use,” he explains.
Mithun Bhat Kakunje, a businessman primarily based out of Mangaluru, has been utilizing the automated watering system. He says, “I might say it’s a high-quality system that has helped me improve the lifetime of my vegetation. It helps me water vegetation on time effortlessly, particularly once I’m travelling. The app continuously screens the water degree and battery standing. I need to say, it has made my life an entire lot simpler.”
At the moment, the couple has put in 5 such gadgets in Mangaluru, Karnataka and plans to provide you with bigger fashions of the system.
For extra data and enquiries, you’ll be able to contact Santosh Shet at 88615 67365.
Edited by Pranita Bhat