Japan uses ultra-small drones to spread pollen

The Japan Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology came up with a good idea. They bought drones from Amazon for as little as $100 and then placed the horsehair on the bottom of the drone. Next, the researchers applied the viscous substance "io nic liquid gels" to the horse hair. The gel was wet and the thickness was similar to that of the sticky note. At this time, the drone could collect and spread the pollen. .

In the published video, the drone passes over the male and female parts of the flower and spreads the pollen. Research project director Eijiro Miyako said that this was the first time that a drone was used to pollinate flowers.

Can drones replace bees? Not yet. Joe Traynor, a California-based "bee agent," said in an interview that the California almond industry needs 1.8 million honeycombs, equivalent to 35 billion bees, because California has 900,000 acres of almond trees. The bee has to pollinate 3 trillion flowers. Terena said: "I don't think there is any technology that can replace bees."

The power of nature is amazing! However, as the number of bees decreases, we may only be able to find other ways to pollinate. In some parts of China, honeybees are almost extinct. Orchards can only be pollinated by artificial methods. Gardeners climb to the trees and use a long brush to pollinate each flower.

The pollination efficiency of Japanese drones is not high. Eijiro Miyako explained that drones are remotely controlled by human operators and it is unlikely to replace bees with manually controlled drones. He also said that it is entirely possible to pollinate in the open area with drones. It is only that we need to add high-definition cameras, GPS, and AI technology to the drones. Because of the small size of the airborne drones, there are certain difficulties in adding components.

Source: technologyreview