Company Bumps up Honey Production with Robotic Beehive

To bee or not to bee, that is the question posed by the maker of a robotic beehive. The hive hopes to save our little insect friends – and quite possibly the human race.

The answer appears to be “yes,” it works. The device is called Beehome. It's creating some buzz today, which just happens to be World Bee Day, according to the United Nations (UN).

The mechanical hive looks like a cross between a small storage pod and an outdoor lavatory. It's made by Beewise. The hive is temperature-controlled. The device protects bees from pesticides, floods, fires, predators, and it feeds the bees. 

In the process, Beehome greatly bumps up honey production and pollination capacity while removing the sting of death for the bees. Company officials say the device increases yields by as much as 50%. The hive cuts bee mortality by 80%.

"Our results speak for themselves,” the Beewise CEO told Forbes.

Bees are critical to the world’s food supply and human survival. Bees pollinate a third of all the world’s food as well as 71% of its fruits, seeds, and vegetable crops. But we're losing them to climate change, pesticides, pollution, and urbanization. 

In the 1980s, the yearly loss rate for managed bee colonies was 3%. It’s now more than 35%, according to Bee Informed Partnership. If it gets above 50%, the world could lose all the bees.

Beewise estimates it has saved 160 million bees with Beehome in one year.

So show us the honey.  

Photo from Damien Tupinier courtesy of Unsplash.