Patrick Garry

BA Honors | Industrial Design

DESIGNER BIO

Hello my name is Patrick Garry I am a senior at Notre Dame studying Industrial Design. I am a native Texan who was largely raised in Minnesota. I enjoy spending time with my family and friends. I enjoy downhill skiing and testing my hand at grilling. Following graduation, I plan to enter into the fields of agricultural technology and land investing. I plan to create products and systems that allow maximal and sustainable productivity and safety in farming.

PROJECT STATEMENT

Grain Guardian is designed to prevent farmers from entering their grain bins to manually inspect.  Farmers often enter grain bins to remove clumps which clog and impair grain flow.  Clumping can create bridges in the grain that collapse under the weight of the farmer. It takes less than 20 seconds for an adult to become buried by grain in a bin, and the force required to get them out exceeds 2,000 lbs. The fatality rate due to grain engulfment is nearly 100%. Grain entrapment fatalities are on the rise in the US due to record grain harvests, larger storage facilities, and more rapid grain movement technologies. Farmers struggling to make ends meet are also more likely to enter a bin to keep the grain (and their money) flowing. Building solutions that materially improve the safety of grain bin entry by assessing grain quality and conditions in the bin was my goal. Computer vision and machine learning partnered with multilevel images of grain and bins could provide farmers with continuous feedback about the moisture composition and condition of their grain. Grain Guardian technology is centered on giving farmers physical insight into their bin. Providing not only real time feedback, but also a collection of data over time. With our core technologies of computer vision cameras, temperature and moisture sensors, we give farmers a real time safety report about the status of their bin. Grain Guardian allows the farmer to assess grain condition, and make climate adjustments.  The Grain Guardian maximizes the safety of grain bin work, reduces grain spoilage, and increases the profitability of the farmer.

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