Chennai-based Shammy and Priya Narayanan have developed a way by which gardens and even crop fields can be irrigated via sensors, without human intervention.
Two years ago, 38-year-old Shammy Narayanan was in the US working in an IT job. Six months ago, he was helping a hospice centre in Tamil Nadu set up a medical lab to aid underprivileged cancer patients get better medical facilities. In May, he and his wife, Priya (38) began working on the "Fire and Forget" solution to watering gardens and even irrigating crops, automatically.
“Many of our friends expressed a desire in gardening but complained that they could not take it up as they did not have the time to maintain gardens,” said Shammy. Priya’s own interest in gardening made this an exciting prospect to explore.
But above all, the reason the Narayanans got involved in this project, without the primary intent of monetising it, was their keen interest in giving back to society.
This altruism stemmed from an incident that took place a few years ago when Shammy was misdiagnosed with cancer in the US. He lived with that knowledge for three days. Those three days brought about the realisation that one has to have a purpose in life bigger than oneself.
Currently residents of Chennai, Shammy and Priya have come up with a way to water plants with sensors and efficient plumbing. Depending on the moisture in the soil, the sensors are triggered via an electric current which leads to water being transported to the plants.
Earlier, the couple had created an app through which the watering could be controlled. However, after feedback from initial pilots, Shammy and Priya realised that the app would not be useful for people who did not have wi-fi/internet access. "Besides, human intervention was needed to start and switch off the app. We got grievances that people forgot to switch off the app once they started it," Shammy said. Consequently, they decided to go ahead with sensors.
"It is not rocket science, actually. Garden sensors are readily available. We have used existing spare parts to come up with something new. Our aim was to come up with a solution which does not require one to be physically present where the plants are to water them— 100% automatic gardening technology," said Shammy, who is a qualified engineer and works in an IT firm.
The water drips to the plants. "Drip irrigation takes only 40% of the water needed in conventional methods," Shammy said.
Shammy and Priya's water gardening technology consumes two units of electricity per month, costing Rs 10. “When we talk about leveraging technology for the common man, it also has to be cost-effective,” said Priya, who had been an IT professional for over 13 years before resigning last year.
Shammy said that this is not a one-size-fit-all solution— size of the area to be irrigated, kind of plants, available water sources, temperature of the area have to be considered. The husband-wife duo will be customising their service on a case-to-case basis.
"Our technology will ensure economical usage of water, promotion of "go green" and enable people with hectic schedules to have a garden," concludes Shammy.
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 "Priya and Shammy Narayanan")
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