All CPU Can Bee

Honeybees' role in pollination enables the production of at least 90 commercially grown crops, including apples, blueberries, melons and broccoli, but recently a dwindling bee population has led to concerns for the stability of this eco system. Industrial design major Anna Haldewang wanted more people to understand the significance of bees to human life -- so she created what's essentially a "bee drone" to be a functional teaching tool that couples technology and design. Plan Bee is a personal robotic bee (controlled by a smart device) designed to mimic how bees pollinate flowers and crops. Similar to how bees transfer pollen from one flower to another, the drone sucks in pollen from a plant and expels it onto other flowers to enable cross-pollination. Anthony and Jeff discuss robot bees and whether this might be the solution the planet is hoping for. GET BONUS EPISODES, VIDEO HANGOUTS AND MORE. VISIT: http://patreon.com/wehaveconcerns Get all your sweet We Have Concerns merch by swinging by http://wehaveconcerns.com/shop Hey! If you’re enjoying the show, please take a moment to rate/review it on whatever service you use to listen. Here’s the iTunes link: http://bit.ly/wehaveconcerns And here’s the Stitcher link: http://bit.ly/stitcherwhc Jeff on Twitter: http://twitter.com/jeffcannata Anthony on Twitter: http://twitter.com/acarboni Today’s story was sent in by Conrad Zimmerman: http://money.cnn.com/2017/02/15/technology/bee-drone-pollination/index.html?sr=twCNN021617bee-drone-pollination0450AMVODtopLink&linkId=34534917 If you’ve seen a story you think belongs on the show, send it to [email protected] or leave it on the subreddit:http://reddit.com/r/wehaveconcern Support the show and get bonus episodes, videos, Discord community access and more! http://patreon.com/wehaveconcerns Jeff on Blue Sky: https://bsky.app/profile/jeffcannata.bsky.social Anthony on Blue Sky: https://bsky.app/profile/acarboni.bsky.social