Scientists Develop Pollinating Drones To Serve In The Event Of Honey Bee Extinction

The honey bee population has been in the headlines for quite some time, as many have witnessed a declining bee population (Colony Collapse Disorder) in the U.S. and around the world. There are a number of things blamed for the problem, things like pesticides and GMOs etc, and it's estimated that the bee population might have declined about 40 percent just in the last decade alone. This is a really big problem, because bees are responsible for much of our food supply thanks to their pollination, and if they ever disappeared then we'd have some real big problems on our hands.

In trying to find some sort of solution, Japanese scientists have created pollinating drones that they hope will be able to get to work if we ever see the need. Scientists have increasingly warned about the threat posed to the declining bee population and that has prompted many people to get into the space, looking to take care for and promote a healthy bee population and economy in their community.

The new pollinating drone is a mini hummingbird-sized drone (seen above) that can mimic the pollinating that bees are capable of doing. A study analyzing the potential of the drone was published just last week in the journal Chem. The drones aren't able to produce honey of course, but it is rather groundbreaking if we would be able to use them for quick and efficient pollination purposes. Though there are still advancements needed before they would be able to operate without any human assistance; one day they might be able to fly solo using GPS and other AI technology.

It is interesting to see developers looking to possible contingency options. Let's hope that it doesn't get that far to actually needing drones to do the pollination. But at least having one back-up option is better than being left with none, should the bees one day go extinct.

The pollinator drones have a strip of fuzzy material on the bottom of them and that fuzz is coated in ionic liquid gel; it has a special lift-and-stick quality so it can take pollen from one flower to another.

Critics have already come out and disagreed with the premise that we would be able to fill the void of a permanent bee collapse, with these pollinating drones. One scientist suggested that replacing all the bees in the world with drones would bankrupt the economy, so for now it's not a very cost effective solution. For now, it has certainly been a more interesting experiment than anything and it does show some potential for possible solutions to the problem, should we ever find ourselves at that point in needing them.

Pics:
The Verge

Sources:
http://www.cell.com/chem/fulltext/S2451-9294(17)30032-3
http://www.news.com.au/technology/science/animals/scientists-create-pollinating-drones-in-the-event-of-honey-bee-extinction/news-story/005de747ed5833440a65c8acb7fd17d0
https://steemit.com/science/@doitvoluntarily/a-groundbreaking-new-way-to-watch-over-bee-populations
http://www.popsci.com/forgotten-gel-could-help-future-robot-pollination-bee-drone