Hydra

Soil degradation, which leads to food shortage and hunger in the long run, is a major problem of the world in the 21st century. Approximately, 3.2 billion people have been and are continuing to be affected by soil degradation according to research conducted by the UN. 1/3 of the world's soil has been degraded, which has decreased the amount of harvest drastically over a large  period of time. 

The hunger and poverty rates are constantly increasing while the food crisis is ongoing. Many countries which rely on agriculture as their source of income, including my country, have been deeply affected by this unpleasant circumstance. For instance, Turkiye is the leading country -covering 69% of all worldwide production- in the production and export of hazelnut with its farming in the Black Sea region, however, the production rates have declined considerably due to soil degradation and erosion which has affected all citizens detrimentally. 

Soil degradation isn't a concern only for the nutritional health and growth of individuals, but also affects the environment immensely. It is one of the primary reasons for land pollution and desertification. Soil degradation is constantly increasing carbon emissions, let alone, foreshadowing a great mass migration. 

Being such a crucial problem which affects humanity in all aspects, soil degradation has rendered itself an issue to be urgently tackled.

Hydra is a big step in eradicating soil degradation, and so, food shortage and hunger. Although it is a solution to a complex problem, the operation process is quite simple, in order to make it easily reachable by all individuals, especially farmers and agricultural workers. The operation is further explained in the "Core Technologies" part. This project is very important to overcome climate changes, effectively manage agriculture and decrease carbon emission rates, especially in LEDCs or low economic areas. 

- An AR & VR simulation will be integrated into the UI later on, to make it the most ergonomic and effective as possible for all the users. 

Although Hydra will impact all lives across the globe with its launch through creating a sustainable method of agriculture, the specific intended audience is farmers, agricultural workers and food companies for the use of the device. It is a very effective way to combat soil degradation, which will especially benefit countries depending on agriculture as their primary source of income. 

One of the biggest causes of soil degradation is excess salinity and pH imbalance, therefore, with such a comprehensive device like Hydra, the problem will be utterly minimalized. 

If Hydra is implemented in all countries, the world’s food supply will increase immensely, leaving no room for the ongoing threat of hunger and food shortage. Through increasing the resources of nutrition, the healthcare, economy, sustainability and prosperity of societies will be augmented. 

Hydra will be serving all citizens of the country without exception, since nutrition is fundamental for human life. Also, people who did not get a chance to complete their education, particularly in the LEDCS like Turkey, will be prevented from emitting large amounts of CO2 without the necessary conscience. 

Especially with my observations during the rush of daily life, I have witnessed the people living homeless in the streets of my beautiful city and having no sanitary food resource. It was a pity to see all these underprivileged people fighting with difficulties. I decided I wanted to find a solution to this major problem, combining my passion to help others with my passion for programming and tech. With all of the activities I am involved in, I have always strove to make the world an equitable place to live in. I worked for several months to learn Java and Fusion 360 to realize the project in my mind, Hydra. On top of all that, I had to learn cryptography and nanotechnology in a short period of time. 

When I first presented the concept of my project to a professor of Electrical Engineering at METU, he told me that it wouldn’t work and refused to support my project. No matter what, I wasn’t going to let anyone get in my way of pursuing the project. I discreetly continued to develop Hydra, until it was presentable in a considerate manner. After the advancements, I decided to present the project to another professor at METU, from the Department of Computer Engineering. She really liked my idea of Hydra, and we will be working with 3 professors and 2 Phd students starting by February 2023. Hopefully, with the adequate funding, Hydra will be implemented to all agricultural facilities. Hydra is a very crucial solution proposal in terms of maintaining sustainability and combating food insecurity problems globally.  

I am now looking forward to finding the necessary funds.I am currently on the verge of establishing a website for Hydra, to raise awareness and increase support. As a strong believer in outreach, I hope that with the Solve community supporting me I will be able to make Hydra a world-renowned device used in every corner of agricultural fields. 

The needed materials for Hydra are relatively easy to attain, and with the needed funds Hydra will be able to serve all communities, enabling them to enhance the productivity of their crop production through decreasing salinity and pH corruption in soil. 

Up until now, the solar panels have been tested and they are working perfectly, including the thermal energy used to heat up the storage water. Meticulous research on nanowires, cryptography, data mining and UI design have been conducted. 

The prototype has been ergonomically designed by computer-aided programs like Fusion 360 and data has been interpreted and functionalized via Vernier Logger Pro. 

With the support of a few organizations and NGOs, we plan to raise awareness on Hydra and spread the word for those who are in need of such a device. On the Hydra website, the price will be put after the specific calculations have been made. 

A developed enterprise business plan and sales model have been created and will be submitted to grants and scholarships to gain the money required. 

For the next few months, we plan to find funds and launch the device after all the research and development will be completed. Also we will be partnering with several NGOs and eco-friendly food companies.

Hydra serves only a small village in Ankara currently, however, with the funds and investments provided, it is estimated that it will serve more than 500,000 farmers within the first year of its launch. As Hydra is an innovative and easily attainable device, it can reach to many, if not all, farmers or workers in the agriculture industry. 

With the support of grants and/or investors, this project may lead to huge change in agriculture, both increasing productivity and environmental sustainability. 

It is planned that Hydra will be used in farmland, agricultural fields and also gardens. Especially in countries depending crucially on agriculture, like Turkiye, this device can be used to benefit all workers, farmers and increase the socioeconomic prosperity of the society.

I was on a search for funding for my project and also looking for a way to increase awareness of Hydra globally; therefore I decided to submit a solution to the Global Challenges organized by the MIT Solve community. I was glad to have found an organization which is in support of young people in STEM and providing a platform for them to raise their voice upon the global challenges currently being felt with. Also being a young girl in STEM, I am beyond excited for the support I will receive from the MIT Solve community. Hopefully, my solution will be selected and I will be able to showcase the power of women in fields of STEM, while contributing to the whole of the good with my innovative solution. I also encouraged other friends from Turkey to participate and glad that a community dedicated to solving the dynamic problems of our world is growing. 

Hydra holds potential to change the course of agriculture by enabling broader areas for farming and the advantage of stabilizing productivity of crops, which makes it innovative at its finest. Besides all of the advanced technologies it uses, it is a very creative approach to solving the dynamic problem of food shortage and hunger. Innovation means new solutions to new problems, which is what Hydra serves to. 

Hydra is innovative because it helps bridge the gaps with the disadvantaged people through the means of technology. Science and tech are combined with humane regards in the project, therefore it is a big step in solving one of the biggest problems of humanity: Hunger. Hydra will serve everyone beneficially whilst contributing to the whole food supply of the world. Since it involves the environment, the economy, the prosperity of a society, the education and the health of individuals all at the same time, and even integrating the biggest power of the 21st century, technology, in it; Hydra is indeed a very innovative approach to solving the major problem of food insecurity and environmental sustainability, also climate change regarding the gas emissions of traditional methods of agriculture.

Our Executive Director, Selin, is the youngest ambassador of UNICEF Turkiye in the Youth Council. She wants to present the project to them and gain their support hopefully. Afterwards, Hydra is in contact with Coca-Cola and Dell Technologies at the moment for sponsorship, to grow in the next few years. We are applying to grants and funds currently to operate smoothly without financial concerns. We hope to impact the lives of many, especially in countries depending on agriculture cross gross annual income like Turkiye. In the next 5 years we hope to increase our number of members in the community to at least 50 from 28 (current number) and get more girls involved. We wish to collaborate with education centers as well. 

The idea of Hydra came to my mind firstly when I visited a small village with my Interact Club -sponsored by International Rotary- to donate stationary and books to the schools of that district. I had the opportunity to spend all day at the elementary school of the village, and teach all youngsters how to play simple mathematics games using English. During break time,I heard a little boy talking to his friends about how the harvest this year was insufficient for them to eat 3 meals a day as a family of 5. I felt goosebumps all over my body, and I got so emotional as to shed tears thinking about the concerns of a kid who is just 7 years old . I went over to him to ask why he thought they were dealing with such a situation, only to hear his immediate answer of “crops lost to soil degradation”. I clearly remember the extensive research I pursued all night long that day to come up with a solution. Once I started to work on it, I was left with a well-conceptualized project: Hydra. 

After the never-ending meetings I had with several professors in Ankara, I decided to further enhance the project beforehand. After all the research I will conduct at METU, starting by Feb 2023, the elementary school of the village was the first place to test Hydra’s efficiency, and later it will be implemented into many farmland hopefully.    

Hydra will serve the population in a cost-effective way. It is currently estimated that the cost of the product will be 65.7$ , which is minuscule compared to the revenue it will bring to all farmers. Normally nanowires are quite expensive, however, Hydra uses graphene to create these nanowires which makes it very affordable unlike normal nanowires, let alone, it is much more durable.

Hydra will be provided to all communities, since the project will be partnering with several eco-friendly food companies and distribution centers.In terms of marketing, NGOs and institutions will be advertising the product for it to reach all communities without any discrimination. 

Farmers and agricultural workers will highly benefit from Hydra, since the project is practicable, affordable and effective. 

One of its benefits in terms of business, is that it is a part of the “blue-ocean” strategy as there is no other such project in the marketplace at the moment. The blue ocean strategy is the simultaneous pursuit of differentiation and low cost to open up a new market space and create new demand, which is exactly what Hydra presents to its clients. Hydra maintains to be cost-effective, eco-friendly and highly technological at the same time. 

Hydra will use the low-income client and cooperative business models. It will serve all individuals, especially those who can’t afford to improve their farm/garden/fertile land to increase harvest, with its convenient price and eligibility across all communities.  

In order to cover expected expenses of the projects , we will be taking grants and presenting Hydra to food companies to have investments made on the project. Since the project is in need of funding and grants, we have partnered with NGOs and the UN for the sponsoring of the project.  

Hydra doesn’t require a high amount of funding to initiate in terms of developing the project as it is already being supported by METU and the computational part has been successfully completed, including the majority of the UI and solar panels. 

The project requires 5,000$ to launch the product and begin selling. Additionally, 4,000 $ for the patent is required for Hydra to be implemented in all agricultural industries. 

To maintain financial stability, the product will be funded and the revenue will be enough to cover the anticipated expenses.

In terms of marketing, Hydra will be presented in the District Conference of Stematics, with over 40 cities of participation and 1.600 + people. Also the project will be submitted to Microsoft Turkiye, as a part of their Developer Workshops. 

Hydra uses Java programming, data mining, machine learning, nanotechnology, cryptography and blockchain technologies. With all of these core technologies, Hydra will be operating smoothly in the fields to decrease the salinity and pH corruption. During a later time, AR & VR technologies will be implemented to the user interface as well, in order to simulate the possible errors realistically and create a more secure color coding section for the users.   

The project works with a simple process. Both cryptography and Java programming have been used in this cost-effective device. Hydra is a solar-powered device which collects data measuring the salinity of soil. After the data is collected, it is encrypted in code and presented as colors in the UI (user interface). After the color coding has been displayed on the screen, the user - depending on the need- chooses to press the button which activates the electron transmission process of the nanowires made of graphene. Through the nanowires and the chemical reaction process using hot water, the excess salt is broken down into its elements through dissolution, no longer performing the toxic characteristic of a salt. The hot water is obtained with the thermal energy gained from solar power, and normally stored in the storage part of the device.

The water storage will be obtained from a mechanism that converts water vapor in the atmosphere to water with cooling systems which will operate with the help of thermal conductors and nanowires as well. This will use both programming, machine learning and thermodynamics.

Unfortunately the sufficient fund for Hydra, for it to be applied in all farmland, has not been obtained currently. Once the necessary fund is found, there won't be any problems regarding the marketing of the project since it is already in collaboration with several NGOs and universities. In terms of the technical aspect, there are solely minor problems with the data collection and function of nanowires parts, which will be covered with adequate research. The UI part is completed successfully, however an AR & VR part might be added as well to further enhance the project.

We promote gender equality and respect of race/ethnicity in our organization. Stematics is the biggest youth-led initiative for "Women in STEM" in Ankara. We partner with many NGOs such as TEMA, Young Reporters of the Environment and Interact. Once we stretch beyond local to global, we want to see many people from all backgrounds in our community, also starting chapters all around the world. With all of those chapters we would like to initiate the application of Hydra in their agriculture as well. 

Hydra will serve the population in a cost-effective way. It is currently estimated that the cost of the product will be 55.7$ , which is minuscule compared to the revenue it will bring to all farmers. Normally nanowires are quite expensive, however, Hydra uses graphene to create these nanowires which makes it very affordable unlike normal nanowires, let alone, it is much more durable.

Hydra will be provided to all communities, since the project will be partnering with several eco-friendly food companies and distribution centers.In terms of marketing, NGOs and institutions will be advertising the product for it to reach all communities without any discrimination. 

Farmers and agricultural workers will highly benefit from Hydra, since the project is practicable, affordable and effective. 

One of its benefits in terms of business, is that it is a part of the “blue-ocean” strategy as there is no other such project in the marketplace at the moment. The blue ocean strategy is the simultaneous pursuit of differentiation and low cost to open up a new market space and create new demand, which is exactly what Hydra presents to its clients. Hydra maintains to be cost-effective, eco-friendly and highly technological at the same time. 

Hydra will use the low-income client and cooperative business models. It will serve all individuals, especially those who can’t afford to improve their farm/garden/fertile land to increase harvest, with its convenient price and eligibility across all communities. 

In order to cover expected expenses of the projects , we will be taking grants and presenting Hydra to food companies to have investments made on the project. Since the project is in need of funding and grants, we have partnered with NGOs and the UN for the sponsoring of the project.  

Hydra doesn’t require a high amount of funding to initiate in terms of developing the project as it is already being supported by METU and the computational part has been successfully completed, including the majority of the UI and solar panels. 

The project requires 5,000$ to launch the product and begin selling. Additionally, 4,000 for the patent is required for Hydra to be implemented in all agricultural industries. 

To maintain financial stability, the product will be funded and the revenue will be enough to cover the anticipated expenses. 

We have raised 5.000 Turkish Liras from the bake sale we organized and also the competition we won from the TED Festival in Ankara. We will be fundraising in collaboration with Interact as well.