Harvard Developing Colony Of Robot Bees

Writing by Evan Ackerman on Tuesday, 20 of October , 2009 at 1:47 am

I guess the bee crisis is worse than it seems, because the National Science Foundation is giving Harvard a cool $10 million to develop a robot bee colony. That’s right, not just one, but an entire colony of robot bees. The bees will buzz around on flapping wings, use optical flow sensors for navigation and obstacle avoidance, sport cute little antennae as well as “pollination and docking appendages,” and use an as yet unspecified power source.

This scheme will seem a whole lot less crazy if you recall that Harvard had a lifesize robotic fly that was operational (mostly) back at the beginning of 2008. Even with that foundation, developing the body of the robot is going to be no small challenge, but there’s also the brain of each robobee plus the organization and communication of the colony as a whole to consider.

All of the aims and goals of the project revolve around “pushing advances” and “spurring innovation” as opposed to creating a robobee army. Which is good, I guess. And, in case you were wondering, the robobees are all gonna be dudes, and consequently sting-free.

[ Harvard RoboBees ] VIA [ Robot Living ]

Comments (3)

Category: Biorobotics, Research

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3 Comments

Comment by Kouroth

Made Thursday, 22 of October , 2009 at 1:55 pm

Now power supply? Well, bees normally only work during the day so maybe they can be solar powered while out and charge when they get home? Small ultra capacitors might make for good battery backups. The real question though is can they pollinate?

Comment by Evan Ackerman

Made Thursday, 22 of October , 2009 at 11:18 pm

They do have a pollination attachment on their butt, but that I’m gonna have to see to believe.

Comment by MJGeese

Made Friday, 23 of October , 2009 at 10:48 am

Require less power by utilizing wind to carry a climbing insect robot from plant to plant. Beetles are also pollinators- See http://www.nbii.org/portal/community/Communities/Ecological_Topics/Pollinators/Pollinator_Species/Invertebrates/Beetles/