He built a robot that climbs 60-foot coconut trees.

Coconut harvesting depends on skilled climbers doing physically demanding work dozens of feet above the ground. Labour shortages, safety risks and the difficulty of the job can leave farmers waiting while ripe coconuts remain on the tree.

Ashin P. Krishna, a young builder from Kerala, began working on a machine that could take on the climb while allowing a person to control the harvesting process from below.

Coco-Bot is a compact, semi-automatic robot designed to grip a coconut trunk and climb trees reaching around 60 feet. Once positioned near the crown, it supports harvesting without requiring a person to make the dangerous ascent.

The machine combines mechanical grip, controlled movement and practical field usability. It is built around the conditions of coconut plantations rather than a laboratory-perfect environment.

Ashin's prototype won the Vaiga Agri Hackathon in 2023. Support from NABARD and the Vadagara Coconut Producers Company helped move the idea closer to farmers and rural users.

The wider promise goes beyond speed. NITI Aayog's Frontier Tech Repository highlights Coco-Bot as a potential source of safer work and income for rural communities, including women connected with Kudumbashree and ASHA initiatives. It is grassroots innovation in its clearest form: technology built around work that already sustains millions.