A 35-year-old man from Sukhothai is getting a lot or praise after a video of his remote-controlled tractor ploughing a flooded paddy field went viral online.
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Sukhothai man praised for building unmanned tractor
Online reporters
SUKHOTHAI – A 35-year-old man in this northern province is being hailed for his acumen after a video of his remote-controlled tractor ploughing a flooded paddy field went viral online.
Arthit Pengkit, a native of Si Samrong district, posted the clip on his Facebook page, showing his remote-controlled farm tractor working in the field on Oct 6. The clip was quickly shared online.
The son of a farming family, Mr Arthit said he decided to apply his knowledge to farm tractors, and help farmers save their labour. He studied electronics in his own time, figuring out how to apply the principles to control a tractor. He then conducted a test of his equipment with a farm tractor.
Mr Arthit fitted the tractor with a remote-control device, similar to those used for remote-controlled toy cars and planes.
It was still in the trial stage for now. He planned to further develop it by installing a camera so farmers could control it via a mobile phone app. Farmers needed to be able to work their fields during both sunshine and rain, he said.
He was convinced his sytem would work, but still needed to develop it further, to improve its efficiency. Eventually, he intended to file for a patent for it.
This son of the land has also built other tools for use on the farm, including a pesticide sprayer fitted to a bicycle and a water pump made from a mini bike.
