Engineering You're Hired

Project:

Soil compaction is a serious challenge in agriculture, restricting root growth, reducing crop yields, and increasing soil erosion. Farmers face worsening conditions as heat hardens the soil, making it nearly impossible for crops like potatoes to grow. TerraSwarm offers an innovative solution to this problem. 

It is a swarm-based robotic system that autonomously aerates compacted soil using ground-penetrating spikes. Unlike existing electric farm robots, TerraSwarm is specifically designed for soil aeration and swarm coordination, making it scalable and efficient. The system operates with low power consumption, ensuring sustainability and minimal environmental impact. By automating the aeration process, TerraSwarm reduces the need for manual labour, saves time and boosts productivity for farmers. Its decentralised scatternet communication allows multiple units to work together seamlessly across large fields. TerraSwarm addresses a critical gap in agricultural technology with a sustainable, cost-effective solution that directly improves food security and soil health.

Project:

MUSH-ROOM is a smart, small-scale mushroom farming solution designed to generate sustainable, high-yield income with minimal labour. This is ideal for farmers with limited time and space. 

Targeting the growing demand for plant-based foods and health supplements, MUSH-ROOM focuses on cultivating premium Lion’s Mane mushrooms in off-grid, repurposed shipping containers. These units are insulated and fully automated with temperature control, rainwater harvesting, solar panels and AI-powered sensors. Lion’s Mane mushrooms are in high demand for their health benefits, including potential support for cancer immunotherapy, weight management and brain health. However, fresh Lion’s Mane is rarely stocked in UK supermarkets and illegal to forage, creating a significant market gap. 

With yields of up to three harvest cycles per substrate load and UK retail prices reaching £24/kg, the business can become profitable within two years, offering at least 15% higher returns than traditional farming methods. This innovation addresses key issues in rural farming, low profitability, lack of time and labour intensity by offering a modular, low-maintenance system with high returns. 

Project:

Between 2011 and 2018, London experienced over 36,000 water pipe bursts, some streets suffering over 30 incidents, costing millions in repairs and causing major disruptions. A key issue is that cracks in pipes often take months or years to develop before a burst occurs, yet current solutions rely on reactive, labour-intensive and expensive excavation. 

F.I.S.H (Flexible, Intelligent Swarm Helpers) is a ground-breaking swarm robotics system designed to solve this problem proactively. F.I.S.H robots use caterpillar-like movement to navigate pipes with or against water flow, maintaining traction and position with minimal drag. Advanced simulations have optimised the design to reduce turbulence, increase energy efficiency and withstand high-pressure environments. The swarm operates using decentralised control, with each robot guided by a weighted system balancing swarm cohesion, exploration and mission objectives.

The system consists of two robot types: scanner F.I.S.H that detect micro-cracks and structural weaknesses and repair F.I.S.H that are deployed when damage is found. When a scanner detects a problem, it communicates with the nearest repair unit via the swarm network, which then navigates to the site for in-pipe repair without excavation. F.I.S.H is cost effective and scalable, each scanner estimated costs approximately £1,100 and each repair robot £4,675. F.I.S.H has the potential to reduce annual pipe repair spending and is scalable to urban and national infrastructure, offering an environmentally friendly, low-disruption and intelligent alternative to traditional pipeline maintenance.