[Pollinator] Fwd: Robotic Bees Take Flight

Mon Feb 27 16:02:06 PST 2012

Thanks to Jen Boulden for this!

From:  The  Daily GOOD <_hello at goodinc.com_ (mailto:hello at goodinc.com) >

Date:  February 27, 2012  12:47:49 PM PST

To: GOOD Readers <_jen at jenboulden.com_ (mailto:jen at jenboulden.com) >

Subject:  Robotic Bees Take  Flight

Reply-To:  The  Daily GOOD <_hello at goodinc.com_ (mailto:hello at goodinc.com) >

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(http://good.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=5b63a0823e3b9c105434c46d7&id=96c328f4e7&e=ed78bbc974)   
(http://good.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=5b63a0823e3b9c105434c46d7&id=8b48777c36&e=ed78bbc974)            _From  
Terminator to Pollinator: Bees Go Robotic_ 
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20%  communicate 20%  sense 60%  swarm       
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Robotics engineers are buzzing about a machine with  potentially 
transformative implications for agriculture,  surveillance, and mapping: the 
"_robobee_ 
(http://good.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=5b63a0823e3b9c105434c46d7&id=6079019ad2&e=ed78bbc974) ." Researchers at _Harvard’s School of 
Engineering and Applied  Sciences_ 
(http://good.us2.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=5b63a0823e3b9c105434c46d7&id=2a88d9e408&e=ed78bbc974)  plan to have the 
mechanized critters  flapping though the air autonomously within the next three  
years, according to _NPR_ 
(http://good.us2.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=5b63a0823e3b9c105434c46d7&id=8c177188de&e=ed78bbc974) . And if coaxing the 
machines into  flight isn't enough of a challenge, the real innovation  lies in 
getting the machines to mimic the collaborative  behavior of a colony.  
Each robobee will be equipped with sensors and cameras,  instead of 
antennae and eyes, that will allow them to do  everything from pollinating a field 
of crops to searching  for survivors after a natural disaster. Communication 
 among a swarm of bees—decentralized and leaderless—is a  particularly 
compelling model for an automated system,  since the insects are able to 
efficiently adapt to changes  in their environment without receiving orders from 
one  authority. If successful, the project promises an  important step 
forward for designing and coordinating  systems of machines. 
Manufacturing the bees has required completely  rethinking materials and 
process. Last week, the team  announced a new method of mass production that 
takes a  page from pop-up books. Laser cut sheets of fibers expand  with one 
smooth movement into the shape of a bee. 
Image courtesy of _Pratheev Sreetharan_ 
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