More About Solanizz

Solanizz is an automated agricultural technology system engineered to detect and eliminate toxic, high-solanine green potatoes from the commercial food supply. Built around the core mission "Solely, Safely Separated Solanine," the project combines computer vision and physical automation to replace slow, inaccurate manual sorting. The underlying engineering design and strategic presentation won first place at the RAK Academy Dragon's Den Competition 2025.

The physical and digital infrastructure of the system is designed to identify and isolate chemical toxicity using visual indicators:

• The Solanine Problem: Exposure to light causes potatoes to produce chlorophyll, turning them green. While chlorophyll is harmless, it acts as a direct marker for solanine—a dangerous neurotoxin that causes severe gastrointestinal, neurological, and cardiovascular issues. On average, 15% of retail potatoes exhibit this toxic greening.
• Sola-Conveyor-V1: The foundational binary sorting model. It utilizes integrated high-speed cameras and computer vision algorithms to instantly distinguish standard potatoes from green ones, automatically routing the high-solanine potatoes into a designated secondary stream.
• Sola-Conveyor-V2: An advanced, multi-tier industrial system. This model expands on the V1 architecture by executing a three-way physical sort: separating normal potatoes, high-solanine potatoes, and physical "misfits" (potatoes with structural defects or irregular sizes).

As the Founder, I took ownership of the project's conceptual design, system integration, and technical defense:

• Algorithmic Logic: Directed the development of the computer vision training models, defining how the cameras and sensors identify varying thresholds of chlorophyll and greening to ensure high-accuracy separation.
• Workflow Optimization: Designed the operational flow of both conveyor variants, ensuring the physical mechanics of the sorting belts could handle high volumes without damaging the produce.
• Technical Presentation: Spearheaded the engineering pitch and system demonstrations for the Dragon's Den panel, successfully defending the viability, safety parameters, and technical architecture of the automated conveyors.