You’ve probably seen reports of the honeybee possibly being declared an endangered species recently. This is very bad news because those fuzzy little guys are responsible for pollinating a good deal of our food. We’re still working on how to keep them from dying but technology has another solution, RoboBees, mechanical honeybees.
These sound like they’re going to be adorable robotic solution but they’re more functional than aesthetic. These slim little robots were developed by Harvard to pollinate plants and take over some of the jobs that traditionally bees have been counted on to do.
These mechanical versions are self-directed but work as a group to complete their missions. Although developed to help with the bee crisis, they have a myriad of uses. They can be used for search and rescue missions as was as surveillance, both people and environmental. That being said, the RoboBees being developed now are mostly to help with the honeybee crisis. They are not seen as a solution so much as a way to alleviate the strain from Colony Collapse Disorder until a solution can be found to save the world’s bees.
https://youtu.be/hEZ7rHRifVc
Once again, humans thinking they can improve on what nature does.
It never stops, does it? :)
I don’t think that’s the intent of these little bots. The bees are in crisis and we’re not really sure exactly why and these are just to help until we can figure out the solution. Or just as tiny spies :)