Honeybees pollinate so many of the world's crops that if they went extinct, our global food system could collapse. Bees numbers are dwindling, due to climate change, disease, parasites, and pollution. Some of tech's greatest minds have been searching for ways to keep bee colonies healthy and thriving, and raise the overall population of honeybees.
A startup company in Beit Ha’emek, Israel, called Beewise has unveiled the first automated and autonomous beehive. They call it the Beehome. This device is big enough to house 24 colonies, which would otherwise each need a hive of their own. A solar-powered computerized system in the middle harnesses artificial intelligence to monitors the bees' activities and to respond when they need heat, cooling, moisture, ventilation, or even medicine. The system will alert a beekeeper when human intervention is needed. The system can even harvest honey! The Beehome will allow a single beekeeper to manage exponentially more hives than ever before possible. Read about the Beehome and what it can mean to agriculture at the Times of Israel.
(Image credit: Beewise)
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