Retail giant Walmart has filed a patent for autonomous robotic bees who will be used to pollinate crops. Precipitated by the decline of natural honey bees, which nourish 1/3rd of human food supplies but are dying off at an unprecedented rate from a phenomenon known as colony collapse disorder, the pollination drones have been in development for years.
Harvard University researchers first introduced Robobees in 2013 and they have advanced significantly since then. The tiny autonomous drones patented by Walmart are now amphibious, remotely controlled, and capable of detecting pollen.
The new patent comes alongside several other patents, including tools for identifying pests, monitoring crop health, and an online grocery service.
I heard about this a while back!! This is a black mirror episode waiting to happen!! Maybe by chance you've seen it, in it some terrorist begins hacking the robot bees and sending them into peoples ears to assassinate them,
pretty crazy but then again so is a true to life population of robotic bees roaming the planet.
Scrolled to the comments to mention that this happened in Black Mirror, but it looks like you covered that!
I hadn't heard about the Black Mirror episode but in general it seems like every single thing they talk about on that show will come to pass in some way.
Oh see, it wasn't actually on the show. Yeah, let the real colony collapse disorder commence.
It WAS on the show!
Oh ok nice!