Ad Harvard cybernetic insects are being studied, #be robot which could fly from flower to flower and, within ten years, be able to pollinate the plants. Since bees and real insects are in short supply, robotic technology will help us. The depopulation of the hives has been going on for some years now, and the phenomenon shows no sign of stopping.
European and North American beekeepers lose up to 30% of their bees every year: among the many causes there is also a parasitic mite, the Varroa destructor, which weakens bees and transmits viruses, as well as the use of pesticides that make drones sterile.
The robot bees project is called #RoboBee: it is a robot half the height of a staple, weighing 84 mg, capable of flying with titanium and carbon fiber wings. It has muscles in ceramic strips, which expand in response to electrical impulses. It will bring the pollen from flower to flower, but not immediately: research is still ongoing, and it will probably take another 10 years before the robot is fully operational. The main problem is to find a small and light source of energy, capable of allowing good flight autonomy. For now, in fact, RoboBee is still powered and operated via a electric wire.
Sooner or later, the RoboBee will also have to communicate with each other to perform synchronized actions, to also track the missing of a natural disaster, for example. Other projects to save the bees they are always in the studio at Harvard, where for example an attempt is made to create an artificial apiary, sheltered from poisons and pesticides, where to keep and reproduce large reserves of bees to be reintroduced in waves in the fields.
