A contest for young designers
My Sas, DirigibilITA, Camminatore I-TA21, these are the names of the winning projects of the Contest for students of Agricultural Institutes, in search of new solutions for agricultural activity in disadvantaged or impervious areas
During the 44th EIMA in Bologna, the competition "The agricultural machine I would like" promoted by AGIA/Cia, FederUnacoma and Itasf, the Network of Italian Agricultural Institutes, came to an end. The contest, aimed at upper school classes in the ITASF network of agricultural schools, called for the presentation of a project for the creation of an agricultural machine or equipment that does not currently exist but is useful for facilitating agricultural work, especially in the so-called "inland" areas of Italy. During the 2020/2021 school year, the competition promoters have organised a series of webinars for the students involved to support their design work. The courses, held by engineers from FederUnacoma's Technical Service, provided an overview of the world of tractors, implements, harvesting and gardening machines and focused on electronics applied to agriculture and design methodologies. A jury of experts then chose the three most interesting projects from among the entries submitted by 37 Itasf institutes, as per the regulations. The schools that presented the winning projects were awarded the money prizes offered by the Federation of Agricultural Machinery Manufacturers: 1,500, 1,000 and 500 euro respectively to first, second and third place.
The award ceremony was held on 20 October during EIMA 2021 and the winning proposals were:
1) "My S.A.S. - My Smart Agricultural Sensor", presented by the Istituto Omnicomprensivo del Fortore Riccia (Sant'Elia - CB). It is a tracked machine with extendable arms equipped with cameras and software capable of providing remote information on the health of a crop in areas that are difficult to access, to prevent the spread of diseases, to regulate irrigation and fertilisation according to the real needs of the plants in order to contain waste and costs and to have a quality production.
2) "DirigibilITA", proposed by the Einaudi-Alvaro Institute (Palmi - RC). The students of the Calabrian institute designed a machine with assembled sites for harvesting olives in impervious areas, consisting of an airship with an operator on board or remotely controlled, a central axis with a telescopic arm, a vibrating head, an intercepting umbrella, a central suction unit for conveying the olives on board the airship, a base for relieving stress for the stability of the vehicle, a tank for storing the olives, an unloading arm and coupling systems for shredders and other tools.
3) "I-TA21 walker" also designed by the Einaudi-Alvaro Institute (Palmi, RC). The proposal is a super-equipped exoskeleton that can enable operators to walk to places where machines cannot reach. The exoskeleton is a load-bearing external support, which is also a protective shell for the worker, powered by one or more electric motors that would allow workers to increase speed, strength and endurance while maintaining the agility of walking and adapting to various ground conditions. An anthro-platform for all kinds of equipment and for a wide variety of tasks.
