How would I keep up with science developments without Bob MacDonald's Science show on CBC radio each week.
There are robot bees. What a good application of robotics. Not that I want to get rid of bees but we've been losing them at a terrible rate.
"MIT researchers are designing robotic insects capable of swarming from mechanical hives to handle precise pollination tasks efficiently."
This is for indoor vertical farming where the environment can be managed. An MIT article on the subject is HERE.
Aren't there all kinds of questions? I would guess they don't sting. What do robot bee hives look like? All kinds of things to imagine.
And there are robotic beehives for real bees: "Beehome is Beewise’s newly designed beehive that includes precision robotics, computer vision and AI. It enables constant monitoring of the bees, using AI to observe their needs in real-time. Beewise does not alter what beekeepers traditionally do. Rather, it augments their work by upgrading the traditional, 150-year-old beehive."
There are threats to beehives from Asian wasps and murder hornets, fires and floods, so keeping our bees safe is important. A third of food production, more than 70% of crop fertilization - all pollinated by bees.
There's more about them in the Forbes article HERE.
This wall of orchids is from a visit to Longwood Gardens a few years ago. How many flowers would you guess are in the picture?
