The tractor that runs without a driver has been made by a 22-year-old Yogesh Nagar. He belongs to a village in Baran district in Rajasthan & was studying engineering in Kota.
He returned to his village when his father fell ill. His father Ram Babu Nagar, got so ill that some years ago a doctor prescribed him bed rest. Due to this Ram Babu was not able to do farming & this put a financial constrain on their family.
Yogesh was about to take his engineering exams at that time but he had to leave for home after hearing the news. After coming to his native village, he started doing farming and drove the tractor.
The Idea of Driverless Tractor & Challenges That Came With it:
• While working in his fields, the idea struck him. He inquired about the driverless tractor in India, to which he found that there was none. All the tractors have to be driven by drivers. He thought that like his father, there are others also who are facing the same problems. There are farmers who are ill or handicapped or met with an accident & are not able to drive tractors & do farming. He thought that people are facing the same problems but are not thinking about solutions.
• He then thought that he will bring a driverless tractor to India. First, he thought of importing a driverless tractor but then he came to know that it will be very expensive. So he then decided to build one himself. With the help of his father, villagers & their friends, he was able to raise Rs.50,000 so that he can start.
• During 6 months, when he was working on a remote control tractor, he faced many failures. Though according to him, failures were not so big that can overshadow his dreams.
Success Came After Hard Work:
He then successfully designed a remote that can control the tractor& his father uses this in their fields. From an open area, the tractor can be operated & controlled to a range of 2.5 km. After he showed the tractor video to the same doctor who prescribed bed rest to Yogesh’s father, the doctor said that his father can do farming easily with the help of a remote.
All the work which the tractor is doing can be seen on an LCD display. Yogesh’s father sometimes goes to their farm also and easily operates the tractor by sitting under a tree. He said that many universities and tractor companies have approached him after the videos of their prototype went online. But he wants to keep following his skills and wants to innovate more.
He also built a robot to help his mother with household chores. He believes that the robot can also be used to help elderly people who live alone. Yogesh wants to help farmers who have to work despite having bad health & adverse conditions as they don’t have any alternate option to choose.
Currently, Yogesh is busy with the process of registering & funding his invention under Make In India. He also dreams of designing a vehicle for the Indian Army through which navigating challenging areas like Mountains & deserts will be easier.
