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Under the leadership of a Dublin High School student, a startup tech company called Terran aims to increase the yield and profitability of small-scale farming with its automated hydroponics system.
Led by DHS senior Nithin Aruswamy, the system was designed in response to the rising cost of small-scale farming including the price of water as well as soil degradation and their inability to purchase expensive agricultural technology.
Other founding members of Terran include Ethan Chen of Mountain View, Rohan Philip of Oak Park and Agastya Sidher of Singapore.
The founding of Terran marked Aruswamy’s second recent agritech venture. Previously, he began inventing an autonomous robot for small-scale farming alongside 11 other individuals, according to the provisional patent application.
Although Terran’s hydroponics system has not yet been implemented at farms, the startup has received national recognition for its business plan by multiple nonprofit organizations.
“Our goal is to integrate into actual farms,” Aruswamy told the Pleasanton Weekly. “Our main focus is to make sure that small-scale farmers can be uplifted because they are the backbone of this country and the world.”
Aruswamy’s personal interest at the intersection of technology and agriculture is rooted in his grandparents’ work as small-scale farmers in India, he explained. The logistics of their farming operation has always been intriguing to him.
Beginning about two years ago, Aruswamy began his deep dive into agricultural research.
According to a scientific report published in 2021, farms under two hectares produce approximately 35% of the world’s food.
Ahead of Terran, Aruswamy was among the inventors who began creating an autonomous farming robot during June of 2023, dubbed the sustainable harvesting and integrated efficient land defense (SHIELD) robotic system.
The modular robot is approximately the size of one to two people and intended to provide comprehensive care for cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli and cauliflower, Aruswamy said.
Currently covered by a provisional patent, the robotic system is designed to allow farmers to attach a variety of systems for activities such as watering, weeding, dispensing seeds and harvesting.
Why the focus on cruciferous vegetable farming?
This group of crops is known for offering a good rate of return for nutrients compared to the amount of required water, Aruswamy said. In practice, cruciferous veggies are a good choice for farming in areas with little rain.
After conceiving of the SHIELD robotic system, Aruswamy and nearly a dozen other individuals filed a provisional patent for the invention.
The applicants are currently in the process of turning the provisional patent into a non-provisional patent, he said.
While the robotic system is not currently for sale, a free guide is available with a list of required materials, Aruswamy said.
Eight of the SHIELD robotic system inventors — including students from DHS, Amador Valley High School and California High School — also penned a research paper, published in October, about cruciferous plants and the future of technology in agriculture in conjunction with two people from Dublin Robotics.
By September 2024, Aruswamy, Chen, Philip and Sidher kickstarted Terran.
As a three-tiered set-up, the hydroponics allows farmers to grow three times more produce, a way to increase profits without the purchase of additional farmland.
In addition to enlarging farmable land, the system is also meant to increase yield by helping plants grow evenly via biofertilizers containing micro-organisms.
The biofertilizers are applied using robotics that monitor the crops’ growth with sensors, Aruswamy explained.
The system is suited to be indoors or inside greenhouses, Aruswamy said. It is currently modeled, with building resources and robotics software available online.
Terran has been recognized nationally by placing second in the 2024 Zuora Climate Action Challenge held by the educational nonprofit Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship.
The business was also recognized among the top 100 teams in the 2024-25 Blue Ocean Student Entrepreneur Competition, hosted by a nonprofit organization Blue Ocean Student Entrepreneurs Corporation.
Additionally, Terran was named a 2025 Genius Finalist of the GENIUS Olympiad, organized by educational nonprofit Terra Science and Education.
As for the future of Terran, Aruswamy envisions the company’s expansion in the United States.
“I would also love to bring this product to different countries that have a low amount of water or are getting overshadowed by commercial agritech companies,” Aruswamy said.
Rest easy, Mr. Pleasanton – Remembering Jeb Bing, founding Weekly editor and publisherJanuary 8, 2026 12:32 pm