This new robotic honeycomb is designed to increase the survivability of bees

A new high-tech comb makes it possible to study bee colonies. The beehive robot developed by researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) should provide new insights into the survival of pollinators.

Scientific research on bees is extremely difficult, according to a statement from EPFL on Thursday. Research materials and even unfamiliar odors can disrupt a colony’s behavior. In addition, bees are extremely sensitive to cold. In winter they can hardly be examined because opening the hive would endanger them.

The new high-tech beehive solves this problem. The robot system can be built inconspicuously into the frame of an ordinary beehive. The honeycomb can measure and influence the temperature. The researchers are investigating how honey bees react to temperature fluctuations. The new robot system was recently presented to the professional world in the magazine “Science Robotics”.

“By collecting data on the position of the bees and creating warmer areas in the hive, we were able to encourage them to move in ways they would never do in nature during the winter,” study group leader Francesco Mondada said in the release of the EPFL. “This gives us the ability to act on behalf of a colony, for example directing it to a food source or preventing it from splitting into groups that are too small, which could jeopardize its survival.”

The researchers managed to prolong the survival of a bee colony after the death of the queen by heating the honeycomb. According to the researchers, this should make it easier for bee colonies to survive in the future. This is important given the global decline of pollinator populations, which is a growing concern for the environment and food security. (sda)