In the Valley, date orchards are a livelihood, not just a landscape. Ninth-graders from a local school went out to the orchards to see what problems the farmers were actually dealing with. Then, in Idan’s labs, they used physical computing, controllers, and sensors to build solutions: devices that detect red palm weevil larvae, automatic traps, smart pollination systems, and more.
Technological Devices to Support Date Cultivation
Learning Technology, Connecting to Agriculture
The Educational Dimension: Hands-on learning of physical computing — working with controllers, sensors, and motors. Problem-solving based on real agricultural challenges.
The Industrial Dimension: Developing prototypes of Agri-Tech products designed to make orchard work more efficient and prevent heavy economic losses.
The Community Dimension: Direct collaboration with the Valley’s date growers. The students become active partners in protecting a significant agricultural sector in the region.
The Connection/The Experience: “Watching a student explain to a veteran farmer how the sensor he built will detect the weevil and solve a real problem for him — that’s the moment code becomes a true calling.”
