Honey bee populations around the world are in decline due to causes ranging from ‘super mites‘ to Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) and even cell phones – and if the insects disappear completely the planet’s ecosystems would be in peril. The issue has become so dire that now a team of Harvard and Northeastern University scientists are working on a swarm of miniature Robobee robots that could pollinate flowers and do the job of real bees if required.
Speaking to Scientific American, the team leaders said: “In 2009 the three of us began to seriously consider what it would take to create a robotic bee colony. We wondered if mechanical bees could replicate not just an individual’s behavior but the unique behavior that emerges out of interactions among thousands of bees. We have now created the first RoboBees—flying bee-size robots—and are working on methods to make thousands of them cooperate like a real hive.”
The biomimicking scheme, also known as the Micro Air Vehicles Project, aims to “push advances in miniature robotics and the design of compact high-energy power sources; spur innovations in ultra-low-power computing and electronic “smart” sensors; and refine coordination algorithms to manage multiple, independent machines”.
Nice – but what does that mean in layman’s terms? Well, by coordinating large numbers of small, agile robots to mimic the physical and behavioral robustness of insect groups, the program could direct a swarm of robots to accomplish tasks faster more reliably, and more efficiently than a single unit.
Not only could they be used to pollinate flowers (in theory), but they could also be used for search and rescue, hazardous environment exploration (such as a nuclear disaster sites), high-resolution weather and climate mapping and traffic monitoring. Here’s hoping we never need them for the job that their real-life counterparts provide.
THIS IS NOT A GOOD IDEA! Birds eat bees too, bees are important to the environment in more ways than pollination & what will happen to an animal that eats this thing! They NEED to STOP spraying the toxic cocktail in the chemtrails & pestisides on the plants. That is what is killing the bees & they CAN stop it!
What a shame that anyone should ever feel this is necessary, but if we can’t revolutionise our ways of behaving in the world, they might well be. Rly good film about bees that won lots of awards last year – ‘more than honey’.
I, for one, am looking forward to tasting their electric honey. so plastic-y, with a metallic aftertaste. good with GMO tea.
Why are all the people responding, castigating this brilliant innovative work? It was clearly not intended to be the solution to remedying the current decline in the bee population. It is fascinating research which could lead to many other creative and useful problem solving applications.
Why isn’t the REAL cause of bee decline mentioned? Oh – yes – because that would make Monsato angry… it\’s GMO\’s and pesticides. Environmental pollutants. And what happens when BIRDS eat these beebots? What then? Make some RoboBirds to replace them too? This will introduce MORE damage to our ecosystem than any solution it might claim to make. Stop this madness.
This is not okay. We have to limit human activity so that the rest of the biosphere can flourish not replace it with machines. Wake up humans – we need nature to live.
It is impossible for these robobees to ever be as sophisticated as real bees. I completely agree with Violeta.
Just wait for Monsanto to hi-jack this technology and programme it so that the Robobees only pollinate their own patented seeds!
It would be interesting if robots could hunt harmful insects so we could reduce our use of pesticides and GMOs. It would require some smarts so as not to hunt the beneficial insects.
I\\\’m sure I\\\’m not the first person with this idea though. Somebody must be working on it.
IT IS THE MOST SAD THING THAT I’VE HEARD.
OTHER BUSINESS OF THE INDUSTRY OF THE HONEY, WHICH HAS BEEN COMMISSIONED TO DESTROY THE BEES.
PURE IGNORANCE IS WHAT IS, IN THIS ARTICLE.
This is so illogical, impractical, immoral… so the bees go missing because of the phones and spraying, then the humans go missing, will a robohuman be the scientific report?