- Title: Bug-sized robots could help pollination on future farms
- Date: 24th January 2025
- Summary: CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS, UNITED STATES (January 16, 2025) (Reuters) (SOUNDBITE) (English) SUHAN KIM, MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY (MIT), SAYING: "These type of robots will open up a very new type of use case. For instance, we can think of artificial pollination. So since our robot looks like an insect, and it's real lightweight and small, if you can really precis
- Embargoed: 7th February 2025 08:02
- Keywords: MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY MIT artificial pollination bees robot insect robotics robots vertical farms
- Location: CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS, UNITED STATES / FILE LOCATIONS
- City: CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS, UNITED STATES / FILE LOCATIONS
- Country: US
- Topics: North America,Science
- Reuters ID: LVA002319514012025RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have developed advanced robotic insects that could aid farming through artificial pollination. They could prove especially useful in the controlled indoor environments of high-tech 'vertical farms'.
"These type of robots will open up a very new type of use case," co-lead author Suhan Kim, from the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS), told Reuters.
"For instance, we can think of artificial pollination. So since our robot looks like an insect, and it's real lightweight and small, if you can really precisely control the robot we might be able to do something on top of flowers or leaves, which really requires very delicate interactions."
The robots, each lighter than a paperclip, can hover for approximately 1,000 seconds, over 100 times longer than previous models. They are also capable of performing high-speed acrobatic maneuvers, including double aerial flips.
The new design halves the size of the team's earlier model, with increased stability while also freeing up space for electronics.
"We want the robot to be able to have a [circuit] board, battery and the sensors on board. So to do that, we need much higher payload than now. So what we're currently pushing very hard right now is to optimize the robot design to be able to lift more and more so that we can afford these potential payloads," said Kim.
Long term, the team hope this will enable autonomous flight outside the lab. This technology could significantly boost crop yields in multi-level warehouses by providing a more efficient method for artificial pollination.
Vertical farming, the name given to the production of crops in a series of stacked levels, often in a controlled environment, is a fast-growing industry with billions of dollars being pumped into projects across the globe.
It is seen as part of the solution to the food security challenge posed by population expansion at a time when climate change and geopolitics threaten supply.
"This doesn't really mean that we want to entirely replace honeybees in nature, but what we sometimes hear from the people in the relevant field is that there are really good cases where we can't rely on honeybees anymore, such as like indoor farming, where we can't really have honeybee homes in it because of safety issues or some environmental issues. So in that case, we can start thinking of using our robot, if it works well, for tools like indoor farming," added Kim.
Despite the team's improvements, the robotic insects still cannot match the capabilities of natural pollinators. However, the researchers aim to improve the robots' flight time and precision to enable them to land and take off from the center of a flower. The research was published in the journal Science Robotics.
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