Robot Bees? Check Out This New Pollination Innovation

Mon, 27 Jan 2025 19:25:56 GMT

Scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have developed advanced robotic insects that could aid farming through artificial pollination. They could prove especially useful in the controlled indoor environments of high-tech ‘vertical farms’.

“These type of robots will open up a very new type of use case,” co-lead author Suhan Kim, from the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS), told Reuters.

“For instance, we can think of artificial pollination. So since our robot looks like an insect, and it’s real lightweight and small, if you can really precisely control the robot we might be able to do something on top of flowers or leaves, which really requires very delicate interactions.”

The robots, each lighter than a paperclip, can hover for approximately 1,000 seconds, over 100 times longer than previous models. They are also capable of performing high-speed acrobatic maneuvers, including double aerial flips.

The new design halves the size of the team’s earlier model, with increased stability while also freeing up space for electronics.

“We want the robot to be able to have a [circuit] board, battery and the sensors on board. So to do that, we need much higher payload than now. So what we’re currently pushing very hard right now is to optimize the robot design to be able to lift more and more so that we can afford these potential payloads,” said Kim.

Long term, the team hope this will enable autonomous flight outside the lab. This technology could significantly boost crop yields in multi-level warehouses by providing a more efficient method for artificial pollination.

Vertical farming, the name given to the production of crops in a series of stacked levels, often in a controlled environment, is a fast-growing industry with billions of dollars being pumped into projects across the globe.

It is seen as part of the solution to the food security challenge posed by population expansion at a time when climate change and geopolitics threaten supply.

“This doesn’t really mean that we want to entirely replace honeybees in nature, but what we sometimes hear from the people in the relevant field is that there are really good cases where we can’t rely on honeybees anymore, such as like indoor farming, where we can’t really have honeybee homes in it because of safety issues or some environmental issues. So in that case, we can start thinking of using our robot, if it works well, for tools like indoor farming,” added Kim.

Despite the team’s improvements, the robotic insects still cannot match the capabilities of natural pollinators. However, the researchers aim to improve the robots’ flight time and precision to enable them to land and take off from the center of a flower.

The research was published in the journal Science Robotics.

Does California Have Enough Energy to Ban Gas Cars?

Wed, 05 Oct 2022 18:44:12 GMT

California announced last week that it will ban the sale of internal combustion engine passenger cars by 2035.

The 31st state leads the country’s vehicle market, and more than a dozen states copy its emissions standards.

Theoretically, the grid should be able to handle EV’s, according to a Quartz article .

Electricity supply and demand work in a reinforcing feedback loop: As demand grows, it creates an incentive for utilities and power companies to invest in new generation and transmission infrastructure. And EVs may be easier to accommodate since they don’t need to be charged at times of peak demand.

The bigger bottleneck could be the rollout of charging stations and the development of new bureaucratic systems to manage the flow of electrons between so many new distributed sources of supply (solar) and demand (EVs).

Charging Concerns With Heightened Demand

However, a method under research to charge electric cars in 10 minutes could be available in five years.

In a report released this week, government researchers said they have found a way to charge electric car batteries up to 90% in just 10 minutes. The method is likely five years away from making its way into the market, scientists said, but would mark a fundamental shift.

Big Push For EV’s, Diesel and Gas Coming Up Short

California’s decision comes on the heels of diesel shortages on the East Coast.

U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm in a letter called on major U.S. oil refiners to build up capacity and reduce exports of refined products ahead of the winter. Granholm noted the reduced availability of diesel inventories along the East Coast, which are nearly 50% below the five-year average. Refined product exports are at a record high.

“Given the historic level of U.S. refined product exports, I again urge you to focus in the near term on building inventories in the United States, rather than selling down current stocks and further increasing exports,” Granholm wrote, saying that such a buildup would be an alternative to emergency measures such as releases from the Northeast Gasoline Supply Reserve.

The letter was reported first by the Wall Street Journal, which accused Granholm in an editorial of attempting to strong-arm the energy industry and abandoning European nations weaning themselves off Russian imports.

More on EV’s:
California Approves Plan to ‘Move State Away From Oil’ by 2035
Is the U.S. Prepared to Support Electric Vehicles?

Technology is Transforming Efficiency and Sustainability in the Fresh Produce Industry

Robot Bees? Check Out This New Pollination Innovation

Does California Have Enough Energy to Ban Gas Cars?

Charging Concerns With Heightened Demand

Big Push For EV’s, Diesel and Gas Coming Up Short