Design and fabrication of a low-cost rice transplanting machine

One of the labor intensive processes in rice cultivation is transplantation, where laborers have to work in a slouching position in puddled fields. This leads to physical ailments like musculoskeletal disorders (MSD). This paper discusses the design and testing of an efficient, cost effective and easily reproducible semi-automatic rice transplanting machine to eliminate the drudgery involved in the task, improve efficiency and productivity of farmer while keeping the human-in-the-loop. The focus of the design was to build a prototype using locally available materials. The cost savings of the new prototype was over 80 percent of the commercially available machines. Studies conducted using this prototype have shown that the semi automation process reduces labor effort by 17 percent and additionally reduced the time for transplantation.