Non-Profit Concrete Jungle Partners Up With Georgia Tech to Build Fruit Sensors

Posted May 19, 2017

External Article: Hypepotamus

Carl DiSalvo, associate professor in the School of Literature, Media and Communication was mentioned in “Non-Profit Concrete Jungle Partners Up With Georgia Tech to Build Fruit Sensors” for Hypepotamus.

Excerpt:

The non-profit not only wanted to collect produce when they find it, but track and document the most fruitful (pun intended) spots around Atlanta. They have documented over 2,800 fruit trees so far of over 20 different varieties on an interactive food map. As their urban harvest grew, one of the biggest challenges the team encountered was keeping track of the varying fruit tree production and monitoring when the ideal time is for the perfect ripe fruit.

Durkin, along with co-founder Aubrey Daniels and director Katherine Kennedy, reached out to Georgia Tech’s School of Digital Media for help solving this problem — how to remotely access thousands of trees and sense when fruit is ready to pick. Carl DiSalvo’s Public Design Workshop research studio at Georgia Tech specializes on experimenting with different avenues of design. The combined team of academics, agricultural specialists, and social good leaders came up with an array of ideas to detect ripe fruit, from drones and mechanical sensors to embedded tree cameras or even using old-fashioned human sensors (passersby) .

 

For the full article, read here.

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