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Move Over Connected Cows, the Internet of Bees Is Here (cityam.com)

Posted by msmash on from the it's-happening dept.

A new project is aiming to bring bees online by putting them in tiny "backpacks" so that scientists can track the threatened insect's behaviour and help its survival. From a report: Bees in Manchester initially will be connected to the internet using technology from Cisco to help researchers track their migration, pollination and movement, and eventually, across the UK. Sensors in hives located at a new 70,000 sq ft tech accelerator hub in the northern city called Mi-Idea, will measure the bee environment such as temperature, while the bees themselves will be tagged with RFID chips that look like tiny backpacks. All the information will be collected and made available to track online giving insight on their habitats, with the bees even providing "status updates" (albeit automated) on their whereabouts. Cisco is working on the project with the Manchester Science Partnership (MSP) and the hub is already home to six startups: Hark, an IoT data company, video platform Wattl, location data analytics startup PlaceDashboard, Steamaco, an energy technology company, IOT platform KMS and software firm Malinko.

23 of 45 comments (clear)

  1. Reality imitating art by hattable · · Score: 1

    It is strange (and somewhat sad) when a company takes a category from the Stupid Shit No One Needs & Terrible Ideas Hackathon and actually runs with it.

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    1. Re:Reality imitating art by jellomizer · · Score: 1

      For some reason people have a hard time connecting insecticides on flowing crops to death of bees (which are insects).

       

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  2. FUTURE SOON by ArylAkamov · · Score: 1

    Bee powered meshnet when?

    1. Re:FUTURE SOON by tomxor · · Score: 1

      Bee powered meshnet when?

      Exactly my thoughts... I'm glad i'm not the only crazy one here :P

  3. Would that make them by dmomo · · Score: 2, Funny

    ZigBees?

    1. Re:Would that make them by omnichad · · Score: 3, Funny

      No, Internet of Stings

    2. Re:Would that make them by dmomo · · Score: 3, Funny

      I'm not worried. I've already set up a honey pot to trap them.

  4. What's next? by rsilvergun · · Score: 1

    Internet of Dogs? With Bees? And when they bark they shoot bees at you? Well go ahead! Do your worst.

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  5. I'm okay with this, but.. by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 1, Troll

    How many bees in an average hive?
    Honey bees are social insects that live in colonies. Honey bee colonies consist of a single queen, hundreds of male drones and 20,000 to 80,000 female worker bees. Each honey bee colony also consists of developing eggs, larvae and pupae.

    Who the hell gets to glue a tiny RFID chip to 20,000 to 80,000+ bees?

    1. Re:I'm okay with this, but.. by Zocalo · · Score: 3, Funny

      H1-Bees?

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    2. Re:I'm okay with this, but.. by techno-vampire · · Score: 3, Informative

      Considering the number of bees in a hive, and the number of beekeepers who are going to want to get into this, I hope that they're going with IPv6, because there's no way you're going to keep them all in range of a single router, and there's nowhere near enough IPv4 addresses available for this.

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    3. Re:I'm okay with this, but.. by ArylAkamov · · Score: 1

      H1-Bees?

      WE'RE BREAKING THE CONDITIONING!
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

    4. Re:I'm okay with this, but.. by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 1

      You, also, are fired.

    5. Re:I'm okay with this, but.. by techno-vampire · · Score: 1

      For any one hive, probably, but what happens when you have a beekeeper with eight hives, who wants to track all of them?

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    6. Re:I'm okay with this, but.. by jellomizer · · Score: 2

      College interns, who else. It is better than slave labor because they pay the organization to do the work.

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    7. Re:I'm okay with this, but.. by godel_56 · · Score: 1

      How many bees in an average hive? Honey bees are social insects that live in colonies. Honey bee colonies consist of a single queen, hundreds of male drones and 20,000 to 80,000 female worker bees. Each honey bee colony also consists of developing eggs, larvae and pupae.

      Who the hell gets to glue a tiny RFID chip to 20,000 to 80,000+ bees?

      Either undocumented immigrants or university undergraduates.

  6. Bee Gee Pee? by Zorro · · Score: 2

    Presumably they use BGP.

  7. by putting them in tiny "backpacks" by XxtraLarGe · · Score: 2

    ...so that scientists can track the threatened insect's behaviour and help its survival.

    Now, I know I'm not a scientist, but it seems to me that putting bees in tiny backpacks would not be very conducive to the bees' survival...

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    1. Re:by putting them in tiny "backpacks" by mspohr · · Score: 1

      Lynsey Barber
      I'm City A.M.'s award-winning technology editor, (who can't get basic facts and language right)

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  8. Not connected bees by manu0601 · · Score: 1

    I understand theses are not connected bees: RFID tag are not online device, you need bees pass near a RFID reader to get some information from them.

  9. Re:Black Mirror by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1

    +1

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  10. I already watched... by XSportSeeker · · Score: 2

    ...this Black Mirror episode.

  11. Hasn't this been around for awhile? by Chris+Mattern · · Score: 1

    I love bees.