Drone Operated by Honeybee Brain

The Green Brain Project aims to create drones that will think, act and sense like a bee. In order to do this, the team of researchers from the University of Sheffield and University of Sussex in England is now working on recreating the brain structure of the European honeybee Apis mellifera. 

The European honeybee is proved to have surprisingly complex cognitive abilities despite the small size of their brains. Scientists state that the size of the honeybee brain makes the recreation of brain structure much more practical compared to a vertebrate brain. Until now, the group has been able to recreate the parts of the bee's brain able to smell and see. They managed to upload this simulation to a drone, and it was able to fly down a corridor without hitting any obstacles.

Honey bee population is decreasing and scientists cannot give an exact explanation about the phenomenon. Since bees play a major role in the food supply by pollinating crops, we might need drones to help us. Focused on this problem, several researchers around the world are trying to create bee-inspired drones.

A team of researchers at Harvard, for instance, has already designed robot bees able to pollinate crops. In the future, scientists might work together to create fully autonomous drone bees that act and think like actual honeybees do.

Source: IFLScience