The traditional scarecrow is ready to take on an electronic garb

Electronics rule our lives these days, and the ragtag scarecrow hates to be left behind. It, too, has gone the electronic way by taking on the garb of a robot.

Thanks to Manoj Jhade, a Maharashtra-based inventor, solar-powered robots are all set to scare the hell out of crows. And in the process, farmers can increase their crop productivity. Farmers just need “proper motivation and awareness” to adopt these life-like scarecrows, says the proud inventor.

Jhade says that Indian farmers still rely on primitive techniques to ward off unwanted birds and stray animals. The most common of these techniques are the prototype of a man (scarecrow) or a sling. The later requires a person to throw stones using the sling in different directions, so as to kill or scare birds. The method, though effective, is quite tedious. And this often injures people. To compound farmers’ woes, many rural areas have no electricity. And as most gadgets are electrically operated, farmers are forced to take refuge in primitive methods.

Jhade, a professor at the K.K. Wagh Institute of Engineering, saw this plight of farmers and thought of bringing his own mini revolution in our country’s villages by devising the solar-powered scarecrow. His model comprises a number of electronic “guns” and a micro-controller. These guns are nothing but electronic circuits fitted with amplifiers, which produce a sound similar to the firing of a gun as soon as it’s switched on. The micro-controller fitted within the scarecrow controls the “firing” of the guns. The system is programmed in such a way that it starts firing from all the guns at the same time or one after another. The interval between two firings can also be controlled by the micro-controller, which issues start and stop commands to the guns. A farmer can place multiple guns at different places in his farm. A lamp on each gun indicates its status, thereby enabling the farmer to monitor and identify faulty guns.

Jhade reiterates that large-scale use of such a system will definitely increase crop productivity and will also help our country’s economy. Jadhe claims, “The solar-operated scarecrow is like manna from the heaven for peasants. The system is cheap, easy to maintain and needs no electricity for its operation. Since no manual labour is required, farmers will have more time to concentrate on other aspects of their farms.” He adds, “Similar solar-operated systems can be developed for other agricultural processes like pest control, irrigation and winnowing.”

Despite his efforts, the model is still waiting to be tested on a large scale. Jhade says, “I am waiting for the government to approach me and introduce its use to benefit poor farmers in our country.”