Our school has a corn garden. Encik, our school gardener, looks after the whole compound — cutting grass, fixing things, sweeping, and watering. He has so many jobs that the corn sometimes gets less water than it needs, and in Miri's afternoon heat the leaves wilt in a day or two.
We are not replacing Encik — we want to help him, so the corn gets watered even when he is busy elsewhere. Our system is built for the next planting season.
From the cornfield to the working prototype — our whole IDEAL journey in five minutes.
Five stages, from a real problem to a working prototype.
We saw the corn wilting and interviewed Encik in Malay about his watering routine.
Empati + Mendefinisi masalahWe turned it into one question: "Can solar power water the corn by itself?"
Mendefinisi masalahWe compared four ideas — timer, battery, solar + sensor, rainwater — and chose solar + sensor.
Menjana ideaWe built v1 (a cup model), then v2 with a bamboo tower, a recycled bottle, a sprinkler and an Arduino — and wrote the code over five versions.
PrototaipWe tested and fixed real problems — backwards relay, sensor jitter, mis-connected tube, weak-sunlight stalls — until v2 worked.
Uji lariThe brain checks the soil. When it is dry, the pump runs on free solar power. When it is wet enough, it stops.
💡 Why no battery? Corn is best watered in the morning (6–10am) — exactly when the solar panel makes power. Skipping the battery is a design choice that matches good farming practice.
Drag the slider to change how dry the soil is. Watch the pump turn on and off using the exact thresholds from our real Arduino code.
3 STEM + 3 non-STEM — all from the Tahun 5/6 SJK curriculum.
Sumber tenaga elektrik & penjimatan elektrik; kemahiran proses sains.
Tenaga boleh baharu, pengaturcaraan & mikropengawal (Arduino), pertanian bandar.
Wang & kos, ukuran panjang tiub, perwakilan data (carta bar).
Bersoal jawab — temu bual dengan Encik dalam Bahasa Melayu.
Speaking & writing — this presentation, video and notes.
Prihatin terhadap keperluan komuniti, bertanggungjawab, kerjasama.
These are typical readings from our tests — how we chose our thresholds. Higher number = drier soil.
⚙️ Thresholds: pump turns ON above 600 (dry) and OFF below 500 (wet). The 500–600 gap is the hysteresis band that stops the pump flickering.
Bamboo chopsticks, recycled 500 ml bottles, reused cardboard & wood.
Runs on solar — no mains power, no battery waste.
Waters only when the soil is actually dry — no waste.
Our booth is built the same way — green from project to display.
SJK Tukau, Miri, Sarawak