Brilliant low tech invention by Edward Linacre who won the 2011 James Dyson Award.
Essentially the Airdrop Irrigation device draws moisture from the air and through a coil mechanism, maximises condensation. This condensation is then channeled through to a reservoir, which is buried underground, and then pumped to the roots of the plants through a drip irrigation system.
The idea came from the Namib beetle which lives in the Namib Desert in Namibia. One of the driest places on our planet, Edward took note of the survival of this beetle. The Namib Beetle uses its bumpy wings to draw water from the air, allowing droplets of moisture to funnel into its mouth.
The applications for this device are far reaching, and the benefits it can bring to a lot of impoverished regions are inspiring.
“We’ve searched for alternative sources of water and there’s many technologies out there, desalinisation and even tapping into sacred water storage or ground reserves like the Artesian Basin looking for water when there’s an abundant resource of water in the air that surrounds us,”
– Edward Linacre.