Sachin Mehra

Sachin is a Design Engineer with an interdisciplinary background. He has had a rather unconventional journey into the world of design. For his undergraduate studies, he pursued sociology, and entrepreneurship, and then deep-dived into the world of soil-less agriculture. Here he discovered the magic of design engineering, and its potential to transform the world for the better. Without any formal training, he built a portfolio of projects, and after a world-altering pandemic, found himself studying Design Engineering in London.

For his solo project, he has been working on a device to enable seamless water quality monitoring and tracking in Indian shrimp farms. Named MF42, the device uses the principles of mili-fluidics and colorimetry to provide accurate results and uses those to suggest remedial actions to the farmers. It is designed with the aim of enabling the farmers to take benefits of data management and data tracking practices.

Water quality is one of the critical parts of the shrimp farming process as shrimp is farmed in high densities and is prone to diseases, requiring the farmers to be extra cautious. Diseases cause entire crops to fail, bringing losses and distress to farmers every year. The chances of disease increase if the health of the water is not kept in check. This makes water quality monitoring paramount. While there are water monitoring systems in place in India, they fall short in areas of accuracy, data tracking, and ease of access. The MF42 is designed to address these key areas to benefit the current farming methods as well as provide a way of data collection that can be used for forecasting and optimizing operations in the future.

Design Engineer Sachin Mehra smiling in a green linen shirt on a bricked wall background

Hi, I'm Sachin.

I strive to craft technologies that can enhance everyday lived experiences, one product at a time. Thank you for taking the time to visit my profile.

I firmly believe in the power of thoughtfully designed technology to positively impact the world. It is what motivated me to embark on the IDE journey which did very well to strengthen my belief. I have a keen curiosity for the sciences, and now I employ design as a means to transform scientific breakthroughs into practical, real-world innovations. I have a passion for product development projects and am on the lookout for opportunities in the space.

Over the past two years, the IDE studio has come to be my happy place. Always being surrounded by machines and tools, constantly designing and innovating through sleepless nights has been an enriching experience. I would like to thank everyone that has been a part of this journey. Hope you enjoy all the work our cohort has produced this year.

Over the past decade, India has grown to become the largest ex-porter of shrimp in the world. In 2021-22, India exported 7,28,123 MT of shrimp, bringing in $5.8 billion in revenue. This number has grown from $2.8 billion in 2011, powered by the adaptation of an intensive shrimp-growing species (Litopaneus Vannamei) and an increase in the number of farmers involved in the activity.

Shrimp farming in India is characterized by smallholder farmers with an average farmer managing around 7-10 acres of land, and producing 2.5-2.7 tonnes of shrimp per acre in a year. Despite contributing to the largest exports of the world, the shrimp farming processes in India are much behind its competitors in per acre yield produced. Other producers of shrimp in south Asia achieve a yield of many multiple tonnes of shrimp per acre as compared to India. While most farming processes and inputs between these geographies are similar, one major difference is the lack of monitoring practices in India. Monitoring practices include routinely checking the health of the shrimp and the water that they grow in, and ignoring these can substantially affect the shrimp quality.

The biggest problem plaguing shrimp farming is disease, which causes entire crops to fail, bringing losses and distress to farmers every year. The chances of these diseases increase if the health of the water is not kept in check and that is what makes water quality monitoring paramount. While there are water monitoring systems in place in India, they fall short in areas of accuracy, data tracking, and ease of access.

The MF42 is designed to address these key areas to benefit the current farming methods and provide a way of data collection that can be used for forecasting and optimizing operations in the future. The MF42 is designed keeping in mind the technical appetite of the farmers and aims to be a bridge for the farmers to introduce them to the benefits of data management and data tracking. It uses the chemistry of colorimetric reactions, a concept the farmers already understand, and enhances it using the physics of mili-fluidics. This greatly improves the accuracy of readings and the efficiency of the materials used.

The MF42 is a device that efficiently measures five essential water parameters in a given sample: Ammonia, Nitrites, Nitrates, pH, and Dissolved Oxygen. By leveraging mili-fluidics and colorimetry principles, it accurately analyses the water health in shrimp farms. The device holds peristaltic pumps, a microfluidic chip, a spectrometer, and color-indicative reagents. All the farmer needs to do is add a sample of water into the container on the side and start the tests.

During my fieldwork, I visited close to 50 farms and observed that they operate without consistent and objective information about the health of their ponds’ waters, and this lack of information often leads to costly outbreaks of disease and shrimp mortality. As a student of design engineering and someone who has worked with aquaculture, I know this is a solvable problem.

Currently, water quality is measured infrequently at offsite labs, causing delays and potential errors. The current system involves collecting and manually delivering water samples to labs and getting back the results after several hours. This process suffers from three major shortfalls.

Firstly, farmers do not have convenient access to on-site water monitoring systems, leading to delays in obtaining crucial information about the health of their ponds.

Secondly, it is prone to errors and inaccuracies due to human involvement and potential mishandling of samples during transportation and testing.

Thirdly, there is a lack of data tracking, making it difficult to monitor trends and analyze historical information for better decision-making.

To address these issues, I am developing a system that eliminates manual sample transport, enables data tracking, and provides farmers with easy access to on-site water monitoring.

Here is a £40 pH probe that is very commonly used. It requires regular calibration, and must remain submerged in pH specific de-ionized water for extended durability. This is what the labs in India use. It is not suitable for onsite testing.

The other one is a £200 probe that provides pH and salinity measurements. It also requires occasional calibration and is not easily available in India. These devices typically measure only one parameter at a time, necessitating the use of multiple devices. The combined cost of acquiring probes for pH, ammonia, nitrites, and dissolved oxygen can exceed £2000.

In contrast, the MF42 can be constructed for under £25 from readily accessible materials, and using simple manufacturing techniques such as laser cutting and 3D printing. Both easily available in India. It offers a cost-effective alternative to the expensive options available in the market.

Sachin Mehra

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Royal College of Art