Rizal students develop automated ube halaya dessert maker

Students from Cainta, Rizal developed a portable machine that can ease making ube halaya, a classic Filipino dessert—in time for the Christmas season.

According to the Game Changer segment of "24 Oras," computer engineering students of STI College Ortigas-Cainta developed the Arduino-based automated ube halaya dessert maker.

From refining the purple yam to stirring and cooking the dessert, say goodbye to this step-by-step process.

“May instances po na masusunog yung mga ube kasi hindi po sila nahahalo nang maayos. Yung bago po naming design ngayon is sobrang portable na po at nilagyan na rin namin ng gulong, sobrang compact na po siya,” said Allan Fortunado, one of the developers.

(There were instances when the purple yam burned since it was not stirred well. Our latest design is portable. We also put wheels on it, and it is compact.)

“Ang aming goal po kasi dito ay matanggal yung kanilang pagod sa paghahalo,” said Josh Coronado, one of the developers.

(Our goal is to ease their efforts when stirring the purple yam.)

Before putting the purple yam in the machine, it should be washed, peeled, and boiled.

The project has a grating machine that refines the boiled purple yam, which will go straight to the mixing pot, where it will be combined with condensed and evaporated milk.

The ube halaya maker will then continue to stir the mixture until it is good to go.

What used to take four to five hours to make can be done in one to two hours.

“Sa machine po namin, sa two kilograms naka-set po siya ng isang oras, sa three kg, 1 hour and 30 minutes tapos sa four kg is 2 hours,” said Juan Carlo Ignacio, one of the developers.

(In our machine, 2 kg is set for one hour while 3 kg is set for one hour and 30 minutes. If it is 4 kg, the machine is set for two hours.

A touchscreen user interface will be used to monitor the process, which indicates the steps and can be used to monitor the progress of the making of ube halaya. —Mariel Celine Serquiña/LDF, GMA Integrated News