4 young students working on a voluntary basis at the innovation workshop of the Balıkesir Youth Center are conducting the work on developing the prototype of the “tomato harvesting robot on greenhouse” which was produced with the supports of the department chair.  4 university students in Balıkesir achieved a major success with the “autonomous harvesting robot project” at a time when the use of artificial intelligence and robotic technologies are on the rise in agriculture.
The project started with youth leader Fatma Feyza Akyol’s (senior year student at the Department of Computer Engineering Faculty of Engineering at Balıkesir University) journey to the tomato greenhouse to help her mother in 2020.
Seeing her mother experiencing difficulties in picking the tomatoes from the greenhouse, Akyol depended on the idea of creating a harvesting robot and prepared a project in collaboration with volunteer coding trainers Faruk Özel, Ali Bayar and Sami Kızılboğa who are her classmates.  The young students named this 70 centimeter high prototype “Awaxen” which was created under the consultancy of Prof. Dr. Ayhan İstanbullu, the Chair of Department of Computer Engineering who liked the project and the software.
The robot created by the young students which passed the elimination process and made it to the finals in the field of agriculture technologies at TEKNOFEST last year attracted great attention though it did not rank in the top 3 out of 45 university teams.
The robot is being tested in the “artificial greenhouse” set up from plastic materials in the Balıkesir Youth center. During the tests the robot mapping the greenhouse and picking the ripened products by top-down scanning with the help of a camera system mounted on it, places the tomatoes into the case.  The aim is to enlarge the dimension of the product that can conduct irrigation and disinfection when its water tank is attached, thereby rendering the product eligible for harvesting and starting mass production.

“It can autonomously adjust its altitude”
The team leader Fatma Feyza Akyol told the AA correspondent that they hold the brand registration and produced Awaxen to pick fruit in green houses.
Giving details about the operating principle of the robot, Akyol provided the following information:
"The vehicle enters and maps the greenhouse. Then it returns to its original position and starts to recognize the tomatoes starting from the top bunches and leading down with the help of view processing technology. Using its robotic arm, it to pull off the tomatoes and starts harvesting. Our robot will pick tomatoes all day long over a greenhouse of 1 hectare. It can autonomously adjust its height with the help of a motion mechanism.”
Stating that the research they conducted in the course of the project showed no such persons or firms manufacturing robots in Turkey, Akyol said: “We have two counterparts in the world. We had the chance to talk to one of these counterparts (a robot manufacturing company). They are working over large green houses in the United States. Our product is now at the prototype stage. We aim at developing this and selling it to Turkey and to the world.”
Akyol also said that rails are installed on the greenhouses and the product is designed by considering the robot in other harvesting robot samples in the world, and added that since Awaxen is a wheeled product, it can also be designed depending on the greenhouse conditions. Faruk Özel expressed the goal to further enlarge the dimensions of the vehicle and contribute to Turkey at an international scale.

The product can become a marketable product simply in 2 years. 
The project advisor Prof. Dr. Ayhan İstanbullu stated that Turkey really needs the robot designed by students. Stating that young people are both ambitious and enthusiastic, İstanbullu said: “We submitted an application at TUBITAK. If we garner support, we will continue to develop the software of the machine that will be able to operate in the real environment. If we keep this pace, we hope we will be able to render the product marketable in 2 years.”
Ersin Güçlü, the Director of the Balıkesir Youth Center stressed that they provide opportunities to raising young people with the help of innovation workshop and science-technology club.
Stating that the youth centers will continue to serve the young people Güçlü said:  "It is important that the goals that we set are viable particularly in respect of creating a producing generation instead of a consuming one. Therefore, we are trying to provide support to the young people. We see that the young people further develop their robot and work more to ensure its usage. We are carrying on contacting relevant people. We hope that this robot will provide further contribution to our national economy”.