The Knights

Pesticides have been used in weeding due to the rise in demand for higher production of food because of the growing population all over the world and also the price competitiveness of the market which made farmers move from manual labor in the fight against weeds. Technology has now evolved and there is an opportunity to eradicate these weeds mechanically without the use of herbicides whilst still increasing the efficiency of weed eradication, increasing crop yields, reducing environmental pollution caused by herbicides. The autonomous weeding bot using artificial intelligence to discriminate between weeds and crops achieved through cameras as the sensors for getting input from the environment. The vehicle uses the cameras also to navigate through the farm in between the rows of crops together with a rotary encoder. It encompasses a robotic arm for weeding in between the crop row and a plough-like weeding tool that is dragged by the robot as it passes in between the rows of crops to remove inter-row weeds. A suitable vehicle for the field conditions has been developed. It has implemented a four- wheel drive and a four-wheel steering giving it flexibility to employ different and suitable steering strategies with much ease.

The team consists of two members who are finalists at the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology. From Mechatronics Engineering department. The names of the members are as follows: 1. Michael Malombo Mwaisakenyi 2. Ken Kioria Gicira We are passionate about using technology to solve problems whilst still very fascinated with the technologies coming up every day. In short, we love solving problems and tech is our to go tool. We are passionate about solving the issues of food production through technology because food is essential to life and food security is something that every human being should have. Floods are coming up all around our country because of the effects of climate change because of not taking care of our environment and herbicides are polluting the environment and causing adverse effects and therefore, using technology to replace the need of herbicides is something that we would like to see come to life.