I am only handling the business and entrepreneurial side of this venture. I am not the one engineering or manufacturing the rover, so the technical details in this post describe the product plan, not something I built myself.
The problem is simple: workers on small salt pans move harvested salt by hand over repeated short trips, and producers lose whole batches when unexpected rain wets the salt. The product plan addresses both pains with an electric rover that can carry up to 100 kg per trip and that includes a weather‑alert function.
What version 1 is – An operator‑controlled vehicle (not autonomous) built on a steel chassis with four wheels, DC geared motors, a motor driver, a rechargeable battery pack, a basic controller and a low‑mounted carrying tray. Keeping the tray low lowers the centre of gravity, which matters on the narrow, uneven pathways between pans. The weather‑alert module pulls a public forecast feed and sounds an alarm when rain is predicted within the next hour, giving the operator time to move or cover the salt. The control scheme is a simple handheld joystick, chosen because it requires no training and works in bright sunlight.
What version 1 is not – No autonomous navigation, no solar‑assisted charging, no payload beyond the 100 kg target, and no integrated weighing system. Those features are on a future roadmap but are deliberately excluded from the first build to keep testing fast and costs low. The design also omits any suspension; the low speed and flat pan surface make it unnecessary for now.
Planned tests – Load testing from light to heavy payloads, straight‑line movement, braking and safe‑stop verification, battery runtime under realistic load, weather‑alert timing accuracy, and supervised field trials on actual salt‑pan paths in Vedaranyam. Each test has a pass/fail criterion written before the trial starts. The field trial will run for two harvest weeks, with the same workers who currently carry the salt, so we can compare effort and time directly.
Business model plan – Two tracks: direct sale to larger producers who want a permanent asset, and seasonal rental for smaller operators who only need the rover during harvest weeks. The rental track also creates a recurring revenue stream and a natural upgrade path when version 2 adds autonomy. Pricing will be set after the pilot shows the labour‑hour reduction per pan.
Go‑to‑market plan – Start with live demonstrations in Vedaranyam for the pilot group identified in the SOM. Convert demo interest into either a purchase commitment or a rental agreement. Track four metrics: pilot feedback score, number of trial users, rental enquiries, and firm purchase or rental commitments. Those numbers will decide whether to expand to the next district cluster.