Bees Robot, A Realistic Alternative To Increase The Production Of Strawberries?

It is an incontrovertible fact that bees are disappearing from our world. There are many reasons for this, including pesticides and poor nutrition, although the causes aren't fully understood.

Most beekeepers need to buy or rent them. These losses are causing a rise in prices. it's estimated that US beekeepers have lost 40% of their honey bee colonies, in line with the US Bee Informed Partnership.

Russian scientists from the Polytechnic University of Tomsk consider an alternative: the employment of robot bees. The researchers shall launch the project in 2019. in step with their plans, the dimensions of the prototypes would be a minimum of seven times larger than the 000 bees, that is, they'd reach the dimensions of the palm of a hand.

For use in greenhouses

As explained by Alexéi Yákovlev, director of the Polytechnic University of Tomsk, artificial bees would be especially beneficial for strawberries and other plants that grow in greenhouses throughout the year. 

"We are progressing to develop bees, algorithms, and software, similarly as optical systems and image recognition methods to realize accurate positioning," explains Yákovlev. The creation of the primary batch of 100 flying robots will cost about 1.4 million dollars.

"Farmers are using bumblebees for pollination in large greenhouses throughout the year," explained Yákovlev. "A bumblebee family costs around $ 500. In winter they fly with infrared, which simulates the warmth of the sun. However, in spring bumblebees can escape, which is an economic loss. " While the robots would work non-stop and never escape.

In any case, artificial bees don't solve the matter of extinction, Yakovlev told Russia Beyond. "We discussed the chance of using robot bees only within the greenhouse, outside their natural habitat."

However, farmers who grow apples, cherries, and other fruits use bees in open spaces. within the US almond producers pay about $ 200 per hive, while blueberry growers spend $ 110 and apple producers pay around $ 70.

In some farms, they're considering the chance of pollinating with alternative species. in step with experts, there are three other important pollinating animals: bats, flies and mosquitoes.

When are these robots visiting fly?

To date, no try to create a man-made alternative to bees has been successful. In 2017, Eijiro Miyako, of the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology of Japan, developed a sort of drone aircraft to move pollen among the flowers.

The bottom of the device is roofed with horsehair and covered with a special sticky gel. When this drone flies over a flower, the pollen grains adhere slightly to the gel so release into the subsequent flower.

A series of tests were drained which the drone pollinated Japanese lilies. The soft and versatile hairs of the animals didn't damage the stamens or the pistils after they fell on the flowers.