MIT Solve

Solution Overview

Solution Name:

Crop Guardians

One-line solution summary:

Xenobots to monitor GMO crop health, tracking the reaction to pesticides-- predicting dangers based on climate change and spread of disease

Pitch your solution.

Crop Guardians is a fusion between an AI database and xenobot synthetic/organic programmable and reactive living technology designed to gather crop information. The Xenobots, collate and send to agricultural groups, those who fight to end world hunger, pesticide makers and crop producers, to ensure the best global agricultural health. The xenobots are put on the stem one test crop that is representative of the whole group, monitoring the transfer of nutrition and energy throughout the crop. This data is then sent to an AI database where trends are analyzed and used to predict future trends based on other framers’ data such as increasing a certain chemical in the pesticide’s formula to prevent spreading disease in crops. This will increase food supply all around the world, especially the developing nations where farming resources are scarce.

Film your elevator pitch.

What specific problem are you solving?

Solving crop and public health issues due to pesticides. According to the United Nations, over “200,000 people die from the toxic exposure of pesticides per year across the world”. This can be prevented with the proper use of pesticides utilizing xenobots. Nearly USD 40 billion worldwide, pests cause an estimated 35% actual loss. The value of this crop loss is estimated to be USD 2000 billion per year”. We cannot afford such losses now or in the future, especially in 3rd world countries where xenobots will be the most beneficial. “The 7 billion global population is projected to grow by 70 million per annum, increasing by 30 % to 9.2 billion by 2050. This increased population density is projected to increase demand for food production by 70 %.

What is your solution?

Proper usage of pesticides can and does save lives. Crop Guardians will accomplish this by utilizing xenobots to collect data on the health of crops which will be analyzed by an AI which would predict trends based on previous data and as well as data from other farms all around the world. Our xenobots can be utilized in various test crops which would give an insight into the entire crop system. The xenobots are composed out of frog cells which can be programmed to collect data. In order to stay alive and do their duty these xenobots will feed from the nutrients from the stem of the crops. Pesticides have been used in a positive way and our project works to keep this positivity. Earthi and NASA both demonstrate the use of agriculture data collection with AI. NASA was able to warn farmers about potential flooding of farmland so farmers didn’t seed their crops. Earthi was able to use satellite imaging and AI to automatically report minute geographic changes. Together, for the first time we are combining at least 2 scientific discoveries xenobots and satellites) to help feed the world.

Who does your solution serve, and in what ways will the solution impact their lives?

Crop Guardians will serve farmers as well as general consumers. Farmers, especially from 3rd world countries, can more effectively protect their crops from pests and climate change by utilizing pesticides more effectively. Currently, over 200,000 people die from toxic exposure to pesticides every year. This number can significantly be reduced with proper, more efficient utilization of pesticides.

Which dimension of the Challenge does your solution most closely address?

Improve supply chain practices to reduce food loss, scale new business models for producer-market connections, and create low-carbon cold chains

Explain how the problem, your solution, and your solution’s target population relate to the Challenge and your selected dimension.

The xenobots will aid farmers to produce more crops with little to no loss. Ultimately, this will increase the total production of crops without increasing farmland leading to a more efficient way to produce food. This production of more food improves the supply chain for cash crops as well as processed food products.

In what city, town, or region is your solution team headquartered?

South Brunswick Township, NJ, USA

What is your solution’s stage of development?

Concept: An idea being explored for its feasibility to build a product, service, or business model based on that idea

Who is the primary delegate for your solution?

Sethu Narayan Senthil

More About Your Solution

If your solution has a website, provide a link here:

https://cropguardians.sethusenthil.com/

Which of the following categories best describes your solution?

A new application of an existing technology

Describe what makes your solution innovative.

My solution utilizes a new and under employed technology, xenobots. Organic programmable beings were not ever used in the world of farming and agriculture. Xenobots and artificial intelligence is not a combination of emerging technology that has been completely put together, and I would love for the two technologies to work together, which will lead us to a path for many other solutions we never thought were possible before. This data will then be analysed by an AI to find patterns and find the relationship between certain pesticide chemicals. This output will be used by pesticide producers as well as farmers to produce and use the most effective pesticide solution.

Describe the core technology that powers your solution.

The core technologies utilized by Crop Guardians are xenobots and artificial intelligence. Xenobots are microscopic organic programmable beings composed out of frog cells, or other living cellular structures. These xenobots constantly report information in real time to the cloud where everyone will be able to access the data collected. This data will then be analysed by an AI to find patterns and find the relationship between certain pesticide chemicals. This output will be used by pesticide producers as well as farmers to produce and use the most effective pesticide solution. Earthi and NASA are already utilizing geo-spacial and landsat satellite technology to detect minute geographical and agricultural changes.

Provide evidence that this technology works.

Xenobots is a technology proven to work, In a scientific paper by University of Vermont & Tufts University, researchers were able to produce these xenobots and contain & study them in pastry dishes. NASA and Earthi both demonstrate the use of geosat satellite technology to automatically find agricultural changes utilizing AI.

Eerthi: https://earthi.space

NASA: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/g...

Link to New York Times article: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/0...

Scientific Paper: https://www.pnas.org/content/p...

Please select the technologies currently used in your solution:

Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning
Big Data
Biotechnology / Bioengineering
Imaging and Sensor Technology
Robotics and Drones

What is your theory of change?

My theory of change is to fuse technologies and solutions together to create one unique solution to solve a particular problem. I believe that the fusion of different industries and fields of study are required in order to perform a meaningful change. This is why I strongly believe in my solution which fuses AI, Xenobots and geosat satellites to be the guardian of crops all around the world.

Select the key characteristics of your target population.

Poor
Low-Income
Middle-Income

Which of the UN Sustainable Development Goals does your solution address?

2. Zero Hunger
3. Good Health and Well-Being
8. Decent Work and Economic Growth
9. Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure
12. Responsible Consumption and Production

In which countries do you currently operate?

United States

In which countries will you be operating within the next year?

India
United States

How many people does your solution currently serve? How many will it serve in one year? In five years?

As soon as the technology is ready Crop Guardians will save millions of lives and dollars all around the world making the production of food much more efficient.

What are your goals within the next year and within the next five years?

In the first year, we expect Crop Guardians to complete the blueprints (how our system works). Once the blueprints are completed we will reach out for partners such as CGIAR. https://www.cgiar.org to do field tests.

We want to build a partnership with the World Food Prize https://www.worldfoodprize.org because they demonstrate dedication and possess vast resources to make this happen.

Perfecting the technology and save crops and lives all around the world.

What barriers currently exist for you to accomplish your goals in the next year and in the next five years?

Technological barriers are the only barriers that exist for Crop Guardians at the moment. The technology already exists but it needs to be combined, perfected, harmonized and fined tuned for our purpose.

How do you plan to overcome these barriers?

By trial and error and a lot of testing, we can overcome these barriers.

About Your Team

Your Business Model & Funding

Partnership & Prize Funding Opportunities