Brilio.net/en - Coconuts are ubiquitous to the Indonesian public, as they symbolize the countrys scout movement as well as a refreshing drink on a hot day. But its allure isnt confined to Indonesians, as one foreigner, Marc Dusseiller, found himself drawn to the fruit. Dusseiler. The Swiss national made the fruit his research material, as he felt that its potential extends to technology, far beyond its better known standing as a foodstuff.
Of all the places I went to in the world, I have never seen virtually unlimited natural resources like those that I saw in (Southeast) Asia. The coconut is one example of this says Dusseiller to brilio.net/en, Friday (18/9). For one, the fruit is easily grown and every part of it, from the root to the fruit, can be used in one way or another, making it a blessing for the inhabitants.
The coconuts benefits make it the subject of Dusseillers research, a field that hes well versed in from his work in the Hackteria international community of young scientists. Founded in February 2009 alongside his friends Andy Gracie and Yasha Shetty, the communitys innovations sought to make an impact scientifically and aesthetically.
For Dusseiller, the coconut is an innovative way to combine nature and advanced internet technology in a breakthrough that has yet to be made. The coconut lends itself to scientific development because of its hard shell, which make it a good hub for research. With that in mind, my colleagues and I in Hackteria sought to develop what we call the Internet of Coconuts (IoC), he adds.
Dusseiller and his team started out by making a prototype Internet coconut to monitor contamination levels of several rivers in Yogyakarta. For starters, the coconut is cleansed of its contents, leaving only an empty shell. State of the art equipment like a Global Positioning System (GPS) to track the coconuts movement, an SD Card to store data and Arduino software to control the data storage are then stored within it.
The coconut is then sent 500 meters downriver, its location determined by GPS. The IoCs first steps revealed that the rivers underwent alarming rates of pollution, which results in, among other things, rising water temperatures.
Dusseiller is satisfied with his preliminary research and plans to develop it further. Indonesia is very rich in natural resources and its young people are smart and gifted think. What the country has to do is encourage them to be innovative and challenge them to invent he says.
(brl/tis)
