Robotic Bees May Secure Our Future

How often do you stop and think about bees? When you get stung by one? When you’re trying to dodge one as it flies through the air? When you’re eating honey? Whether you think about them a lot or not, the fact remains that bees are incredibly important to our survival. If all of the bees one day disappeared, we wouldn’t make it. While that day may seem like an impossibility, there is a very real shortage of bees all around the world. Scientists aren’t too sure why the number of bees seem to be dwindling, but they’re already trying to do all they can to help the problem for the future.

If a day comes when real bees won’t be around any longer to pollinate things, robotic bees may take their place and come to our rescue. While I admit this sounds like a crazy notion, it turns out that some scientists from Harvard have already come up with an alpha version of a bee which can perform artificial pollination among other activities. (Hopefully those “other activities” don’t include stinging people).

Wow. I never imagined we’d have to figure out a way to create robotic bees of all things.

Could you imagine a world where more insects were robotic than living? While I’m definitely no scientist, I have a hard time imagining that a robotic bee can pollinate just as well as a real-life bee. But, since everything else is getting the technological treatment, why shouldn’t insects as well?

What do you think of this story? Do you think we’ll ever see the day when robotic bees take over the job from living bees? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.

[Image via fastcoexist]

SOURCE: http://sploid.gizmodo.com/these-are-the-robotic-bees-of-the-future-1570332550/+caseychan