Aman Aggarwal, Ishit Patel, Naman Singh Kanaujia, Shreya Shankar, Tarak Doshi.
INTRODUCTION
The project is aimed towards developing a device that transforms the traditional and not so efficient process of picking the castor fruits to a more efficient and safe method.The traditional method involves holding the thorny castor bunch with one hand and cutting it using a sickle with the other hand. Because of the sharp, thorny spikes on the fruit, getting hurt while holding it is an obvious thing. Using a sickle for cutting the branch shakes the entire bunch and the dry fruits fall off. The fallen fruits, although being healthy for further use are not picked up by the farmers due to the tedious nature of the process. Moreover, once the castor bunch is plucked, farmers put it in a cloth wrapped around their shoulder and waist. The cloth having limited volume to accommodate the bunch, needs to be emptied in a common collection point every now and then - increasing the distance they have to walk.