Bees

Simon Mildren, an Australian firefighter with a passion for beekeeping, has streamlined the beekeeping process with the Hivekeepers Micro Honey Harvester system. It sounds like it could be ideal for the recreational or small-scale beekeeper.

Inspired by the humble bee, robotics researchers at MIT have designed insect-sized aerial bots with a reimagined wing system that can fly for up to 1,000 seconds – 100 times more than any similar bots we've seen in the past.

In the third BMC Ecology and Evolution image competition, a stunning snap of the invasive orange pore fungus (Favolaschia calocera) has not just encroached on native species’ territory but taken out the top spot in the annual contest.

There are already ant farms that let people watch ants, and even a sealed termite colony for folks who prefer something a little different. Now there's the round, transparent Ivry-B beehive, that allows users to engage in some quality bee-watching.

We've heard about robots that communicate with one another via wireless networks, in order to collaborate on tasks. Sometimes, however, such networks aren't an option. A new bee-inspired technique gets the bots to "dance" instead.

In an effort to create some buzz for the recent World Bee Day, an Italian beekeeper has built a "Air bee and bee" tiny house-style dwelling. Installed in an olive garden, the basic-but-novel shelter has a beehive integrated into its ceiling.

Beekeeping can be an arduous task, as keepers have to repeatedly bend over and lift wax/honey-laden honeycomb panels out of each hive. The Hive Controller is designed to help, by robotically lifting and collecting the honeycombs.

With colony collapse disorder continuing to decimate honeybee populations, it's more important than ever for beekeepers to monitor hive conditions. The ApisProtect system is made to automate the process, potentially catching problems earlier.

A new understanding of the way bumblebees change their body orientation to squeeze through tight spaces has a team from Australia's University of New South Wales imagining how flying robots could be made to do the same thing.

Beekeepers frequently open up their hives to check on them, but doing so adds to their workload, and it stresses out the bees. A team of Dutch entrepreneurs set out to develop an alternative, resulting in the BEEP base hive-monitoring system.

The potential for micro flying-robots in areas like search and rescue, agriculture and hazard detection is huge, but so are the hurdles. Researchers at the University of Southern California (USC) have been working on these problems with their Bee+, drawing inspiration from the insect world.

Our drones are pretty handy, but nature’s drones – bees – are far more efficient. Rather than building our own from scratch, researchers at the University of Washington have created tiny suites of sensors that bees can wear like backpacks, to help gather data from their environment.