More than 13,000 students take part in graVITas’23 technology fest

S. Abisha, a VAIAL student, designed a prototype tool to make clove harvesting easier. It has a 12-m pole, arms, clamps, and a driver's seat. The tool can be used to harvest cloves from tall trees and store them in a bag. At graVITas'23, 150 events are being held with 13,000 students participating and ₹20 lakh in prizes.

For S. Abisha, a third-year student at the VIT School for Agricultural Innovations and Advanced Learning (VAIAL), interacting with clove farmers in Kanniyakumari gave insight into their agricultural practices and the many challenges they faced.

At graVITas’23, the latest edition of the three-day technology festival, which has been organised by Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT) since 2008, Ms. Abisha’s entry for ‘Hackathon for Agricultural Transformation’, which was held on Saturday, involved a device to make clove harvesting easier and safer.

Along with her teammate, Ashlyn Chryssandra, she designed a framework for a prototype tool to serve as an alternative to manual harvesting of cloves. “I have seen how farmers risk their lives when harvesting cloves from tall trees. They say it is the only way, but I want to provide them with a safer alternative. So, we developed a design for something to harvest cloves,” she says.

Ms. Abisha’s prototype has a 12-m pole, that can rotate in all four directions, and two arms and clamps, which move backwards and forwards, to harvest cloves. The battery-run equipment can be operated by the farmer from its driver’s seat. It can be used to harvest cloves from tall trees and store them in a bag.

At present, Kanniyakumari cloves accounts for nearly 65% of the country’s production and was awarded the geographical indication (GI) tag a few years ago for its unique qualities, such as high concentration of volatile oil content and aroma.

During the three-day festival, 150 events are being held, with more than 13,000 students from various colleges and deemed universities in the country participating. Prizes worth ₹20 lakh will be given at the valedictory event, which will be held on Sunday.