Our food depends on pollinating insects and when the bees disappear we could be in serious danger. Scientists are developing robot bees capable of artificially pollinating plants.
He is about to end up run over, his mother saves himOur food depends on pollinating insects and when the bees disappear we could be in serious danger. Scientists are developing robotic bees capable of pollinate plants artificially.
The new example is called B-Droid and is the result of the work of researchers at the Warsaw University of Technology. Scientists have been working on this project for four years now.
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We think that still before making robot bees, one should think about actually protecting pollinating insects. Soon Europe should consider a real ban on neonicotinoids, the bee killer pesticides on which EFSA has recently expressed a negative opinion.
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The arrival of the robot bees makes us think of the famous television series B when in the episode 'Hated In The Nation' the bees have disappeared and are replaced by drones. It is a post-apocalyptic episode in which the real protagonists are bees. These insects fundamental for the balance of the planet have become extinct and have been replaced by robots capable of imitating them in every way.
The B-Droid API developed in Poland are a cross between a robot and a drone and in the name they recall the little robot of Star Wars BB-8 Droid.
Will our planet sooner or later find itself facing a scenario of this kind?
Perhaps by building robot bees, scientists are preparing for the worst. The idea is to make a automated system for pollination. The B-Droid robot bees are able to fly. Scientists have developed software to make sure they can actually deal with pollination.
The working group is led by Rafał Dalewski and is working to make automated pollination of plants possible thanks to small drones that look like bees.
The robot bees observe the ground using cameras and examine the detected images to identify the presence of flowers nearby. After identifying the position of the flower, the robot bee prepares the data necessary to reach it, collect the pollen and transport it to the other flowers present. You can watch B-Droid in action from a distance but the device is capable of doing it all by itself.
Polish researchers predict that the robot bee will hit the market within the next 2 years and that it can promote pollination in agriculture, in collaboration with real insects. The project is part of an international vision linked to precision agriculture, where technology will increasingly be used for cultivation.
We would prefer, however, that the primary commitments of researchers were first of all to the protection and safeguarding of the real bees that still exist in the world.
Marta Albè
Photo source: PwEdu
