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Polybee: Buzz over drones that help with pollination
Dec. 10, 2019
Robot bees that can fly from flower to flower may sound like the stuff of science fiction. But for local start-up Polybee, this is fast becoming a reality, with tests already being done with a palm-size aerial drone prototype.
What problem that this invention is trying to solve? Pollination, said Polybee founder and CEO Siddharth Jadhav. He noted that much of the food humans eat comes from hybrid seeds, which require traits in different varieties of the same plant to be cross-pollinated. In places like indoor farms, where there are no bumblebees, this can be a problem.
“The industry still depends on the very labour-intensive method of pollination by hand, which contributes to about a third of labour costs,” he said. Though larger than a real bee, his 9cm-long flying drone is nimble enough to cover a huge amount of space in a timely and consistent manner, without tiring or making a human error. To “teach” this system through deep-learning, 3D virtual models were used to simulate different orientations of flowers. Tests so far have been promising, said Mr Siddharth.
Source: StraitsTimes
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