Nghe An students grow mushrooms in '4.0 revolution' style
(Baonghean.vn) - With the idea of a smart garden model controlled by a smartphone, a group of Nghe An students won first prize at the 2017 Student Festival.
» Vinh University and Vietnam-Korea Vocational College jointly crowned student festival winners
 |
| Group members next to the IOT Smart Garden Model. Photo: Chu Thanh |
With the model of 'High-tech oyster mushroom cultivation' (Smart garden model IOT) using technology towards industry 4.0, a group of 4 students including: Bui Van Tuyen, Nguyen Cong Thanh, Dao Xuan Binh and Nguyen Manh Tuan from class DT8D, Industrial Electronics, Vietnam - Korea Industrial Technical Vocational College has excelled in impressing the judges with their ideas, startup products and won First Prize at the First Student Festival in 2017.
Student Bui Van Tuyen, the group leader, said that the IOT smart garden model was conceived by the group 3 months ago. This is also the graduation project of all 4 students. Sharing the same interest in technology, Tuyen, Thanh, Binh and Tuan quickly became close to each other and found common ideas when it came to the graduation project.
 |
| Control the model with a smartphone with internet. Photo: Chu Thanh |
Tuyen shared, “Vietnam is an agricultural country, if information technology is applied properly, it will be very helpful for the people. For this reason, we decided to choose the topic of garden model applying Internet of Things (IOT) technology with the hope of contributing to helping Vietnam's agriculture catch up with the world.”
The IOT smart garden model uses microcomputers combined with sensors such as humidity, temperature, and light. Users can easily monitor environmental conditions and come up with effective solutions such as setting watering times and lighting times via smartphones. The IOT smart garden model operates based on three main parts including: IOT hardware devices with sensors that control environmental parameters such as humidity, temperature, and light. Information is sent to the server for storage and processing before the data is sent to the smartphone via 3G or Wifi connection. When the phone sends a control command, the command will be sent to the server to push back to the hardware device for execution. |
In the process of transforming the model from paper to product, the group encountered many difficulties. First of all, it was necessary to approach IOT technology, a new technology compared to the previous technologies that the students had learned and practiced. Tuyen said that although the group identified the difficulties from the beginning, they still decided to use IOT because this is a new technology, faster, more accurate, suitable for the 4.0 industry that Vietnam and the world are aiming for.
As final year students, there are many things to complete, so you all have to take advantage of every free hour. Especially during this May period, you often stay at school at night to complete the model. There are times when you encounter a deadlock, the members have to encourage each other or pause to go home and rethink the plan.
 |
| To adapt to reality, team members still have to continuously edit the model. Photo: Chu Thanh |
When the technical and mechanical assembly problems were settled, the members started to learn about mushroom growing methods. Thanh, a member of the group, said, “We searched for growing facilities online and then contacted them to learn more. Luckily, the group found a mushroom growing facility in Yen Thanh and the owner enthusiastically taught us about how mushrooms grow. The members spent the whole day learning and had to come back 2-3 times to ask questions and gain experience.”
Although it took a lot of effort and time, seeing the mushrooms grow well, with a yield more than doubled, the members were excited.
Thanks to the application of IOT technology, the group's model will overcome the disadvantages of manual mushroom growing such as saving energy, giving higher productivity, being able to harvest all year round, reducing labor, saving production costs, etc. Currently, the group is continuing to perfect its model.
 |
| The model 'High-tech oyster mushroom cultivation' (Smart garden model IOT) won first prize at the First Student Festival in 2017. Photo: Chu Thanh |
Commenting on the students’ model, Mr. Pham Van Can, Head of the Electronics Department, Vietnam – Korea Vocational College, said that their idea is a good, creative, and progressive one when applying the benefits of the internet. However, there are still some limitations such as low stability and the need for more careful calculation to apply in practice and commercialization.
Chu Thanh
