Sabiha Antora started her master鈥檚 program with a big dream: to help the world produce more food. 聽
As the global population continues to rise, the amount of food we produce falls alarmingly short. It's estimated that by 2050, there will be nearly 10 billion people to feed. That means we have 29 more growing seasons to figure it out.鈥�
While the scale of this challenge is epic, Sabiha and her pioneering team that includes Dr. Young Ki Chang and Ryan Cobb want to be part of the solution.
Helping farmers with a health check-up for crops聽
Growing up in the farming town of Teligati, Bangladesh, Sabiha saw first-hand how labour-intensive it was to manage crops.
鈥淢y grandfathers and uncles spent long days in the fields growing paddy and vegetables, like spinach, squash and bitter gourds,鈥� she says.
鈥淚 wanted to develop something to take some stress off the farmers.鈥�
Rather than relying on manual labour to scout out areas in the field in need of fertilizer or pest control, Sabiha and her team felt that a drone could do the job faster and better. 聽
Using advancements in digital imaging and processing, Sabiha鈥檚 team proposed that a drone could be engineered to scan and process data in real-time. They wanted to develop a lighting-fast system that could analyse a field and prescribe steps for the farmer to take to maintain healthy crops. It would be like a health checkup for crops.聽聽
Applying to Dal Innovates鈥� Lab2Market
Working out of the robotics lab on 网红黑料's Agricultural Campus, Sabiha, Young and Ryan, applied to Dal Innovates鈥� Lab2Market program. 鈥淚 had no idea about commercialization,鈥� Sabiha says, 鈥渂ut I knew if we could help growers care for their crops quicker, we would be helping them to improve crop yields.鈥�
A key part of the Lab2Market program is customer discovery. While Sabiha excelled at market research, her instructors saw that she was avoiding contacting future customers directly. 鈥淚 was afraid growers wouldn鈥檛 understand me because of my accent, and that I wouldn鈥檛 find the right words,鈥� she says.
To face her fears, Dal Innovates instructors Michael Carew and Permjot Valia suggested Sabiha start by contacting agriculture customers in Bangladesh. Of the Bangladeshi鈥痗ontacts, she says: 鈥淭hey gave me lots of ideas for how to relate to farmers in North America.鈥� 聽
Sabiha may have even landed a new job after cont