Tiny drones dressed in horsehair and coated with a sticky goo have been attempting to pollinate lilies in a Japanese lab. The $100 quadcopters [measure] just 42mm-wide [1.65 inches] and [weigh] 14.8g [0.52 ounces]…
“I believe that a form of AI, GPS and high-resolution cameras would be very useful for the development of automatic machines in the future. In particular, AI will help provide the intelligence in a robotic drone. They will [autonomously consider] something such as exploring the shortest path and the highest efficiency for pollination. That must be helpful and useful for farmers, right?” [said Eijiro Miyako, a chemist from the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) Nanomaterials Research Institute (NMRI).]
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A 2016 study looking at 18 years of data on bee populations in England found that insecticides were linked to a longterm decline in the pollinators. Another paper out the same year identified 57 pesticides licensed for use in the European Union that are poisonous to honeybees. Meanwhile, an estimated $235 billion to $577 billion worth of global crops depend on pollinators, a report by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) revealed in 2016.
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Miyako believes the project could help counter this enormous problem, by automating manual crop pollination. “We hope the robotic pollinators might replace bees [to counter] the problem of honeybee decline – but more importantly, we should use both together. They might cause good synergistic effects.”
The GLP aggregated and excerpted this blog/article to reflect the diversity of news, opinion, and analysis. Read full, original post: Robo-bees covered in sticky horsehair could one day help pollinate crops
