Written by the Girls of the 2024 Minas em Tech Class
The Minas em Tech project is an initiative devoted to the technological emancipation of girls through hands-on experiences in science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics (STEAM). The 2024 edition featured an intensive training track in which participants could go deeper into subjects such as programming, robotics, prototyping and digital technologies, always connected to the challenges and needs of their own territories.
As the culmination of that track, the students were challenged to develop an MVP (Minimum Viable Product) responding to a real demand in their community. Below we present the write-up of the “Fazenda Sustentável Minas em Tech” MVP, produced by the girls taking part in the project’s 2024 class:
01. Overall objective
The overall objective of the Minas em Tech farm is to promote the integration of sustainability and technology in order to create an innovative ecosystem that ensures food security, social well-being, environmental preservation and efficiency in the use of natural resources, in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
02. Sustainable Development Goals
addressed in the project
The SDGs addressed in the project were:
03. Projects that make up the “Fazenda Sustentável Minas em Tech”
04. How it works
The idea is to make everything on the farm sustainable.
For people to gain access to food from the vegetable garden, they have to follow the steps below:
Step 1: the user collects recyclable materials;
Step 2: takes the materials to the farm;
Step 3: weighs the material;
Step 4: based on the weight of the recyclable materials, points are added up and can be exchanged for food from the garden.
The farm takes all the material to Sucatas Rodrigues (a recycling facility located near the school where the project was carried out).
05. Showcase website and Virtual Reality
A website and a virtual reality experience were produced, with a detailed explanation of the Minas em Tech farm, how it was built and its food exchange system. They can be reached through the links:
“Fazenda Sustentável Minas em Tech” website: https://fazendaminasintech.glitch.me
“Fazenda Sustentável Minas em Tech” Virtual Reality: https://vrfinal-projeto.glitch.me/
This project is part of the series of MVPs developed by the 2024 class at the end of the technical STEAM training delivered in the Minas em Tech project.When girls take hold of technology to solve real problems, they transform the present and build the future!