Israeli students create drone technology to detect crop-disease

Over 100 male Orthodox and ultr-Orthodox students from the Jerusalem College of Technology, as well as students hailing from all across Israel and "dozens" of other countries participated this year.

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
A drone (illustrative) (photo credit: INGIMAGE)
A drone (illustrative)
(photo credit: INGIMAGE)
The Jerusalem College of Technology held its fourth annual "Great Minds Hackathon" this year, during which time a panel of six judges from Israeli tech companies choose a winner from a number of innovative ideas presented by students from Israel and around the world.
During the competition, tech conglomerates such as Amazon Web Services, OrCam, Elbit Systems, Via, Intel and others present real-world "challenges" for students to find technological solutions. These companies will then pick their favorites from the list of new innovations, to eventually turn these students' ideas into tangible products - devising a preaccelerator method to turn these products into startup companies, according to JNS.
However, there is only one clear winner each year, and this year's prize in the male division was brought home by French student Efraim Hammer and his partner Gamliel Roos, who designed and developed a crop-disease detection solution using aerial photos takens from drones and UAVs.
“If a crop is already dying, it’s very likely that it contaminates the others around it, so the faster you can detect the dying crop, the better,” Hammer said, according to JNS. “It’s estimated that damage from diseased crops and trees amounts to around $60 billion in loses annually, so if optimized, this has the potential for huge savings.”
Over 100 male Orthodox and ultr-Orthodox students from the Jerusalem College of Technology, as well as students hailing from all across Israel and "dozens" of other countries participated in the hackathon this year.
A challenge presented by OrCam was taken on by an international student of the Jerusalem College of Technology Yaakov Yeger and his group from Teaneck, New Jersey. The team created a solution to enhance an existing OrCam technology designed to assist the visually impaired in identifying objects and individuals - the new innovation enhances the pre-exisiting technology so that the glasses are able to identify individuals from farther away, without registering the individuals face entirely.
“Our solution is another step towards leveling the playing field for the blind,” Yeger said, according to JNS. “This is my first hackathon, and it’s been a cool experience. It’s been great to be in this sort of hub with people working all over the place [on different challenges].”
Other notable innovations included a system to prevent drivers operating motor vehicles from falling asleep on the road, a robotic remote physical therapy system as well as a system to prevent children from drowning in public swimming pools.


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