Without bees to pollinate flowers, there would be no fruit to harvest. As bee deaths outpace the hives’ ability to regenerate — in 2016, the United States lost 44 percent of all honeybee colonies — farmers have turned to researchers for help. One partial solution already is in the works: an insect-sized drone capable of artificial pollination.
Image ©Savannah School of Art and Design

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Filed under: Special Features | Comments Off on Robot Bees Take Wing

Tags: Agricultural Engineering, bees, colony collapse, drone, Eijiro Miyako, Japan National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, NPR, pollinator, Robotics

Middle school students design a robotic “bee” that would have the potential to pollinate crops in place of a native bee and then evaluate their model against real pollinators.

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Filed under: Class Activities, Grades 6-8, Grades K-5, Lesson Plans | Comments Off on Engineer a Bee

Tags: Agricultural Engineering, bee, Class Activities, design challenge, Grades 6-8, Lesson Plan, Mechanical engineering, plant, pollinator, robo-bees, Robotics

Students in grades 3 to 5 learn about the engineering design process by making a 2-dimensional model (graphic illustration) of an apparatus that will pollinate a field.

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Filed under: Class Activities, Grades K-5, Lesson Plans | Comments Off on Honeybee Human Design Challenge

Tags: Agricultural Engineering, Class Activities, crops, design challenge, Grades K-5, honey bee, Lesson Plan, Mechanical engineering, pollinator