Infomatrix Competition: Gold medals and greenhouses

15-years old Quetta student’s project beats out competitors from 20 countries.

QUETTA:

If you ever wanted a greenhouse that can literally run on remote control, then you need to talk to Waleed Bashir.

Hailing from Khuzdar, this 15 year old Pakistani recently bagged the Grand Winner position, along with a gold medal, at the International Infomatrix Asia Computer Competition, held between April 18 and 21 in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

Infomatrix is an annual international computer project competition which aims at bringing together computer science students from across Asia. Although the Infomatrix competitions have been held since 2003, this was the first International Computer Project Olympiad.

This means that Bashir beat out competitors and projects from over 20 countries. Participating nations included Russia, India, Bangladesh, Georgia, Bosnia, Ukraine, Kyrghzstan, Azerbaijan, and Kenya, and judges had to choose between hundreds of projects. They chose Bashir’s ‘Green Automation’ project .

Bashir, a ninth grader at the Quetta chapter of Pakturk International Schools & Colleges, designed an automation system that illustrates how to control a greenhouse with only a computer and an internet connection. With heat, water level, humidity and other factors controlled through strategically installed sensors, there is virtually no need for human attendants,.

That’s not all; the energy required for the functioning of the system is provided by movable solar panels that follow the position of the sun for the best possible energy recovery.

“The honor and the pride belong to my country, Pakistan. They belong to my school and teacher, and to my parents,” he said. “Carrying our flag on an international platform, with dignity and honour, was my dream,” he said.

In addition to this, students from Pakturk schools across the country hold countless awards. Through many international competitions held in 2012, the Quetta chapter of the same institution won a gold medal in Turkmenistan and a silver medal in Turkey.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 23^rd, 2013.