Our school corn was going thirsty.
Our school has a corn garden. Encik, our school gardener, looks after the whole compound. He trims the flowers, cuts the grass, tidies the school grounds, and used to water the corn himself. With so many jobs, the corn sometimes gets less water than it needs, and in Miri's afternoon heat the leaves wilt in a day or two.
We just want to help Encik, so the corn still gets water even when he is busy. Our system is built for the next planting season.
See it in action
From the cornfield to the working prototype, our whole IDEAL journey in five minutes.
Our 5-minute project video will be added here soon.
How we built it, the IDEAL way
Five stages, from a real problem to a working prototype.
Identify · Kenal pasti
We saw the corn wilting and interviewed Encik in Malay about his watering routine.
Empati + Mendefinisi masalahDefine · Takrif masalah
We turned it into one question: "Can solar power water the corn by itself?"
Mendefinisi masalahExplore · Teroka idea
We compared four ideas (timer, battery, solar + sensor, rainwater) and chose solar + sensor.
Menjana ideaAct · Bina prototaip
We built v1 (a cup model), then v2 with a bamboo tower, a recycled container, a sprinkler and an Arduino, and wrote the code over five versions.
PrototaipLook Back · Uji lari
We tested and fixed real problems: a backwards relay, sensor jitter, a mis-connected tube, and weak-sunlight stalls. After that, v2 worked.
Uji lariFrom a cup to a working system.
Swipe through how our one prototype grew, from version 1 to version 2.
Sunlight in, water out.
The brain checks the soil. When it is dry, the pump runs on free solar power. When it is wet enough, it stops.
💡 Why solar in the morning? Corn is best watered from 6 to 10am, exactly when the solar panel makes power. So the pump runs straight off the sun, which matches good farming practice. A small battery is only a backup so the pump can still run without strong sun, for example indoors.
Be the sensor 🎛️
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.
Soil-Moisture Pump Simulator
One project, six subjects.
3 STEM and 3 non-STEM, all from the Tahun 5/6 SJK curriculum.
Sains STEM
Sumber tenaga elektrik & penjimatan elektrik; kemahiran proses sains.
RBT STEM
Tenaga boleh baharu, pengaturcaraan & mikropengawal (Arduino), pertanian bandar.
Matematik STEM
Wang & kos, ukuran panjang tiub, perwakilan data (carta bar).
Bahasa Melayu Non-STEM
Bersoal jawab: temu bual dengan Encik dalam Bahasa Melayu.
Bahasa Inggeris Non-STEM
Speaking and writing: this presentation, video, and notes.
Pendidikan Moral Non-STEM
Prihatin terhadap keperluan komuniti, bertanggungjawab, kerjasama.
We tested the sensor 20+ times.
These are typical readings from our tests, and 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.
Low cost. Green by design.
- Arduino UNO R3 + cableRM 38.61
- Solar panel (6V 1W)RM 12.51
- Jumper wires (3 packs)RM 9.99
- Misting nozzle + silicone tubeRM 7.40
- Pump, soil sensor & relayRM 10.17
- Mini breadboardRM 0.90
Recycled build
Bamboo sticks, recycled containers, and borrowed or donated parts. We bought only the core electronics.
Renewable energy
Runs on solar, with no mains power and no battery waste.
Water saving
Waters only when the soil is actually dry, so nothing is wasted.
No single-use plastic
Our booth is built the same way, green from project to display.
Your turn 🙋
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Made by us 🙌
SJK Tukau, Miri, Sarawak