Our Vigattin Radio discussion today was very much in time for our country's rainy season, which is also our rice planting season. The whole PhilRobotics Team and representatives from Project NOAH joined us to discuss projects that are relevant to agriculture and the environment.
PROJECT NOAH
Our guests were Mr. Leo Godfrey T. Jao, Information Officer III, and Mr. Oscar V. Lizardo, Chief Science Research Specialist, both from Disaster Management using Web Geographical Information System (Web-GIS) under the Hazards Information Media Component of Project NOAH. They discussed the relevance and importance of Project NOAH to our country's climate and topography.
NOAH stands for Nationwide Operational Assessment of Hazards. It's primary purpose and function is to mitigate and prevent climate-related disasters and calamities, like floods and landslides. By sharing near real-time information and data to the public, Project NOAH raises awareness and concern so that people will know what to expect about the weather and what to do during such situations.
The devastating impacts of the previous year's typhoons led to the development of Project NOAH under the Department of Science and Technology (DOST). Aiming for disaster prevention and not just disaster control, Project NOAH is continuously plotting its high-resolution geo-hazard maps to help in the early decision-making of our local government units.
Project NOAH can be seen and explored through its website, https://noah.dost.gov.ph/. You can also download its free mobile app called "Project NOAH DOST". It is available for both iOS and Android devices.
PHILROBOTICS and BIGAS HACKATHON
Joining us The PhilRobotics Team is composed of people from various places and different walks of life but with the same hobby and passion - robotics and engineering. They also share a common and very contagious sense of humor, if I may add :) They were the very first winner of Bigas Hackathon, a two-day developer event and hackathon hosted by the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and Smart Communications, Inc.(Smart) and held last November 10-11, 2012.
Ms. Paula Bianca Ferrer, organizer of Bigas Hackathon, told us that the primary mission of this event is to look for web and mobile applications that will help rice farmers and researchers in effectively and efficiently implementing technological innovations for agriculture. We are gearing towards nationwide rice sustainability and technology plays a very significant role in making this happen.With this purpose in mind, PhilRobotics developed the Environmental Logging System or Envilog, a portable device that could take actual readings of temperature, rainfall, wind speed, wind direction, amount of sunlight, atmospheric pressure, humidity, and water height in rice fields. It has real-time GSM-based data sending, offline data collection, and Web-based visualization. Once Envilog becomes commercially available, it will be a huge help to everyone in the agriculture industry.
Vigattin Radio and the whole Vigattin Team are in awe of these brilliant applications that can make our lives better. Because the Philippines is a hotbed of natural disasters, we should be thankful that Project NOAH, along with other initiatives of DOST, is being developed and made available to the general public. Also, as the Philippines is mostly an agricultural country, Envilog holds so much potential in turning agriculture into a technologically-enabled industry.
We are hoping for the success and progress of these applications. These are hard proof that Filipinos can do it, that we can innovate and develop application that will match or exceed international standards. When it comes to technology, we are not far behind our Asian counterparts. And that is something that we should be proud of!
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