LAND O\u2019 LAKES, Fla. \u2014 A Pasco County community is turning to artificial intelligence in an effort to help save one of nature\u2019s most important pollinators.<\/p>\n
The community of Angeline has installed a brand-new robotic beehive system equipped with AI technology, becoming the first master-planned community in Florida to use the innovative system. The technology is giving beekeepers a powerful new tool in the fight to protect the bee population.<\/p>\n
Inside a container is what some believe could be a game changer for the future of bees.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are here to help advance our mission to save the bees by educating the community and also helping pollinate their farm, which is right here behind us,\u201d says Steve Peck, managing director at Beewise.<\/p>\n
At the Angeline Community Center, space is being made for a new resident: bees.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe problem is bees are collapsing at an alarming rate,\u201d said Peck. \u201cAbout half of bees that beekeepers are managing will collapse in a given year, and that rate is only accelerating.\u201d<\/p>\n
Peck said bees play a critical role in the global food supply. They pollinate about 75% of the crops we eat and about 80% of the flowers around the world. To help combat colony collapse, Beewise has developed what it calls BeeHome.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeewise has created the BeeHome, which is a mix of robotics, cameras and sensors that help us monitor and manage the bees more effectively,\u201d said Peck. \u201cThe result is bees thrive in this environment. Being able to manage them, get insights into the hive, and the result has been about a 70% reduction in what we see of colony collapse when bees are living inside of this technology.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt does not surprise me that they have found a way to put it into this beehive today,\u201d said Abby Davis, a computer science teacher at the Angeline Academy of Innovation. \u201cHopefully, it makes the bees happier.\u201d<\/p>\n
Davis and her students attended a field trip, getting a first-hand look at how AI can be used to solve real-world environmental challenges.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve created their own AI machines and chat bots,\u201d said Davis about her students. \u201cEven so, to see AI working in a real-world function, especially for something so environmentally friendly, it really does let them get insight into the real world and how it\u2019s actually being used.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s also giving beekeepers a better understanding of what\u2019s happening inside the beehive.<\/p>\n
\u201cIs there a queen?\u201d said Peck. \u201cIs that queen producing in and laying brood so that the colony can grow? Are the bees producing honey and have enough food and forage for their environment? So we use that to really be able to look inside the hive and understand what\u2019s happening with computer vision with AI. We can report back to the beekeeper who then can take action.\u201d<\/p>\n
But Peck said protecting bees isn\u2019t just up to beekeepers. Anyone can help by planting pollinator-friendly flowers and creating habitats that provide food sources for bees.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn return, they\u2019re going to make those gardens you plant that much more beautiful and give you honey back as well,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
A small insect playing a big role in our ecosystem. Now getting a high-tech helping hand.<\/p>\n
Beewise says it currently has about 1,500 BeeHomes deployed in the field, supporting roughly 250,000 hives each year. The company estimates that the technology has helped save more than 292 million bees worldwide.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LAND O\u2019 LAKES, Fla. \u2014 A Pasco County community is turning to artificial intelligence in an effort to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":56795,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[24,73,1828,25,33060,67,88,33062,66,33061,6284,134,1829,33063,65],"class_list":["post-56794","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ai","tag-ai","tag-app-community","tag-app-top-stories","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-calvin-lewis","tag-community-news","tag-environment","tag-instagram-bn9","tag-news","tag-pasco-county","tag-tampa","tag-technology","tag-top-stories","tag-trending-topics","tag-vod"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56794","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56794"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56794\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56795"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}