PARAKH

About PARAKH

The idea for PARAKH started with a simple question: How can a dairy farmer know whether the feed or silage they are buying is actually good quality without depending on a laboratory every time? Feed quality has a direct impact on animal health and milk production, but regular testing is not always practical for farmers.

We decided to explore a low-cost, portable approach for rapid feed and silage quality screening. We wanted to build something that was not just an app, but a working system that could interact with a real sample.

How We Built It

We started with an ESP8266, an AS7343 spectral sensor, an OLED display and Bluetooth connectivity. The sensor captures spectral information from the sample, while the ESP8266 handles the readings and communication. We also developed the software side to process and present the readings in a simple way.

Building the prototype was not straightforward. We had to understand the sensor, test different configurations, work with I2C communication, and make sure the readings were actually coming from the physical hardware rather than using assumed values.

What We Learned

The biggest learning for us was that building a real hardware project is very different from designing an idea on paper. Sensor calibration, wiring, communication problems and inconsistent readings can completely change the results. We also learned that a useful solution needs real sample data and laboratory validation before making strong claims about specific nutritional or contamination parameters.

Challenges

One of our biggest challenges was getting reliable communication between the different hardware components and understanding how to interpret spectral readings from actual feed samples. We also had to keep the system affordable and simple enough for practical rural use. PARAKH is still a prototype, but building it has helped us understand the gap between an idea and a field-ready product. Our next focus is to collect more real samples, compare the readings with laboratory results, improve calibration and gradually make PARAKH a reliable rapid-screening tool for farmers.