KUALA LUMPUR: Two siblings from Selangor have devised a way for travellers to keep their plants watered while away on long vacations.
Suthiksha Baloo, 12, and her brother Narashimma Naidu Baloo, 10, had invented a Bluetooth-based plant-watering system that enabled users to water their plants remotely via smart devices.
In fact, the duo from SK Taman Megah aimed to expand their system's wireless connections to include Wi-Fi services.
If successful, the system would allow users to water their plants at home from anywhere in the country.
Suthiksha and Narashimma's smart plant-watering system was also suitable to irrigate crops in small and medium-sized farms. Their innovative invention bagged the gold medal at the Asian Innovative Science, Environmental and Entrepreneur Fair, which was held in Semarang, Indonesia, from Feb 2 -5.
Their smart irrigation system clinched the top prize, defeating 447 participants and teams from 20 countries.
Their mother, Rajeswari Narasingam, 51, said her children developed interest for innovations after they started attending classes on the Internet of Things (IoT) that was designed for young children in 2020.
"Honestly, IoT is Greek to me. So, at first, I was afraid my children might get bored over the technical skills taught in the classes. But, they gradually gained confidence and became more enthusiastic to invent and innovate.
"In the last two years, Suthiksha and Narashimma have won 11 gold, three silver and four bronze medals at innovation competitions that were held virtually in India, Turkey and Nigeria," she told the New Straits Times.
Rajeswari said the Malaysia Innovation, Invention and Creativity Association (MIICA) played a pivotal role in encouraging her children to promote their inventions on international platforms.
"During the early stages of their project, MIICA evaluated Suthiksha and Narashimma's work, offered constructive inputs and challenged them to develop world-class innovations.
"Due to their inputs, some judges even commended the smart plant-watering system as 'equivalent to a doctorate (PhD) project' that led them to win the gold medal," she said.