Spy Robot in Bee Hives Helps Prevent Extinction
Vienna - Researchers in Graz, Austria sought to understand bee behavior through spy robots to prevent the mass death of bee colonies. Without these pollinating animals, many crops will not bear fruit and the economy will collapse.
Honey beekeepers and food crop farmers in Europe and the United States have recently been concerned about the mass mortality of bee colonies. Until now it is not clear what the main cause.
Some call the Varoa ticking attack the trigger. But there are also accusing the use of irrational pesticides and pesticides a new type of family of nicotinoids who become the culprit.
What is clear is the mass mortality of the honeybee colony, threatening the production of food crops. Bees are the main animal pollinator of food crops in the world. If the bees are destroyed, no plants are mentioned and there is no harvest. This is an economic disaster for farmers.
Bee robot so spy
To examine behavior and influence it, biologists from the University of Graz in Austria developed autonomous spy robots. The shape is not like a bee, but a metal cylinder that has the character and behavior like a bee.
This autonomous robot received a swarm of bees inside the nest, as a member of the colony's family. Martina Szopek, a researcher from the Institute of Biology in Graz, said: "Robots can affect bees in three ways: first with temperature changes, second with wind and third with vibration".
"The robot can vibrate according to the dance pattern of the bees, and the signals that affect the bee's reaction to the nest", Szopek said further. With this research is expected to be developed a new method, to protect this useful species from mass death or even annihilation.
Research results can also be used to protect other species facing similar problems and threats. Robots can be used in biomedical research. Or in the management of large animal farms, to suppress stress in the cage.