Populations and species are threatened with extinction and that is bad for the pollination of flowers and crops. What now? Drone bees must pollinate flowers and artificial flowers must help the bees. Climate change, pesticides and changes in the landscape mean that bees have a hard time: every year fewer bees get out of their hibernation. This is not only bad for the bees, but also for biodiversity.
A drone with velcro-like material on its back
Drones like bees
Chemist Eijiro Miyako of the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology in Japan has therefore developed miniature drones that can take over the work of bees to help them. The drone is not wider than 4 centimeters, weighs about 15 grams and can be controlled remotely.
The thing is equipped with four propellers and has a sticky velcro-like material on its 'back', where pollen sticks to. This pollen can then be flown to the females. The prototype of the Japanese was a small toy drone he had provided with the pollen-stick material. He succeeded in pollinating lilies. With this further developed variety, smaller flowers can now also be pollinated.
What if only one person can replace one bee?
But then comes the following problem: if you have to drive every drone by a human being, this solution is not exactly efficient, because that would mean that one person can replace one bee. And if you want to cover a larger area, then you need hundreds or even thousands of people.
That is why Miyako wants to equip the drones with cameras, GPS and artificial intelligence, so that they themselves can look for flowers to pick out pollen, to deliver them to flowers, to pollinate them.
Australian artist Michael Candy
Since pesticides are the biggest danger to bees, you might want to recreate the flower instead of the bee, the Australian artist Michael Candy thought. He developed artificial flowers that can function as real flowers. Just search for the ideal color and the ideal size and yes: the bees kick in.These flowers roll out of a 3D printer and are provided with nectar, pollen and all the other stuff that attracts bees. A system with tubes and small motors ensures a constant supply. Of course, this robot flower is completely pesticide free. From the robot flower, bees can pollinate surrounding real flowers and crops.
By: Robin Rotman
All about Agri & Gardening