{"id":30433,"date":"2020-06-23T15:20:00","date_gmt":"2020-06-23T15:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/icrowdnewswire.com\/?p=2611710"},"modified":"2020-06-23T15:20:00","modified_gmt":"2020-06-23T15:20:00","slug":"1m-grant-will-help-researchers-explore-the-use-of-robotic-bees-for-crop-pollination","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipsnews.net\/business\/2020\/06\/23\/1m-grant-will-help-researchers-explore-the-use-of-robotic-bees-for-crop-pollination\/","title":{"rendered":"$1M grant will help researchers explore the use of robotic bees for crop pollination"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"
Manoj Karkee, an associate professor in WSU’s Department of Biological Systems Engineering, is leading a team that’s exploring the potential of robotic pollination. (WSU Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Washington State University researchers are leading a team that’s exploring the use of robotic pollinators to assist fruit farmers. The project just received a three-year grant totaling nearly $1 million<\/a> from the U.S. Department of Agriculture through the Washington State Department of Agriculture.<\/p>\n

The team is building on and adapting existing machine learning and robotics technology, including tools being developed to mechanically thin plants or pick fruit such as apples.<\/p>\n

“This is an important project, and a lot of work, but we’re confident we’ll be able to put together all of these different pieces into a viable prototype that could be a huge help for the agriculture industry in the future,” said Manoj Karkee<\/a>, the project lead and an associate professor in WSU’s Department of Biological Systems Engineering and Center for Precision and Automated Agricultural Systems, in a prepared statement.<\/p>\n

The research includes building technology to locate flower blossoms on trees growing in orchards and creating a robotic hand to perform the delicate task of pollinating the flowers. The team includes scientists from Penn State University.<\/p>\n

A robotic pollinator could provide a “stable and efficient process” according to the WSU scientists. Researchers elsewhere have been developing flying drones<\/a> and brush-wielding, wheeled robots<\/a> to pollinate crops. In 2018, Walmart applied for a patent<\/a> for an “unmanned vehicle”<\/a> crop pollinator.<\/p>\n

But other scientists warn<\/a> that the development of mechanical bees are not a pollinating panacea and could pose “substantial ecological and moral risks.” Their concerns include the cost of the robots, their potential harm to ecosystems and biodiversity, and fears that a dependence on robot pollinators could create food insecurity.<\/p>\n

WSU researchers are involved in multiple projects in the field of precision agriculture<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In order to pollinate their crops, farmers currently bring honey bee hives to their fields. But U.S. bee populations have been struggling since at least the mid-2000s with the rise of colony collapse disorder<\/a> — and now face the threat of the deadly Asian giant hornet or “murder hornet,”<\/a> which has been spotted in Washington state and British Columbia.<\/p>\n

\n

See Campaign: <\/strong>https:\/\/news.wsu.edu\/2020\/06\/19\/robotic-crop-pollination-goal-new-1-million-grant\/<\/a>
Contact Information:<\/b>
Ann<\/p>\n

Tags:<\/b>
<\/a>, Wire<\/a>, United States<\/a>, English<\/a><\/p>\n

\"image\"<\/div>\n

\n

Contact Information:<\/h3>\n

Ann<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"\"Manoj Karkee, an associate professor in WSU’s Department of Biological Systems Engineering, is leading a team that’s exploring the potential of robotic pollination. (WSU Photo) Washington State University researchers are leading a team that’s exploring the use of robotic pollinators to assist fruit farmers. The project just received a three-year grant totaling nearly $1 million from the … Continue reading $1M grant will help researchers explore the use of robotic bees for crop pollination<\/span><\/a> Continue Reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,22,54],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30433","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english","category-united-states","category-wire"],"yoast_head":"\n$1M grant will help researchers explore the use of robotic bees for crop pollination - Business<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/ipsnews.net\/business\/2020\/06\/23\/1m-grant-will-help-researchers-explore-the-use-of-robotic-bees-for-crop-pollination\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"$1M grant will help researchers explore the use of robotic bees for crop pollination - Business\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Manoj Karkee, an associate professor in WSU’s Department of Biological Systems Engineering, is leading a team that’s exploring the potential of robotic pollination. (WSU Photo) Washington State University researchers are leading a team that’s exploring the use of robotic pollinators to assist fruit farmers. The project just received a three-year grant totaling nearly $1 million from the … Continue reading $1M grant will help researchers explore the use of robotic bees for crop pollination Continue Reading →\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/ipsnews.net\/business\/2020\/06\/23\/1m-grant-will-help-researchers-explore-the-use-of-robotic-bees-for-crop-pollination\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Business\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-06-23T15:20:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/icrowdnewswire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/3998-ICN-408.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Aneesa\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Aneesa\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/ipsnews.net\/business\/2020\/06\/23\/1m-grant-will-help-researchers-explore-the-use-of-robotic-bees-for-crop-pollination\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/ipsnews.net\/business\/2020\/06\/23\/1m-grant-will-help-researchers-explore-the-use-of-robotic-bees-for-crop-pollination\/\",\"name\":\"$1M grant will help researchers explore the use of robotic bees for crop pollination - Business\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ipsnews.net\/business\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/ipsnews.net\/business\/2020\/06\/23\/1m-grant-will-help-researchers-explore-the-use-of-robotic-bees-for-crop-pollination\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/ipsnews.net\/business\/2020\/06\/23\/1m-grant-will-help-researchers-explore-the-use-of-robotic-bees-for-crop-pollination\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/icrowdnewswire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/3998-ICN-408.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-06-23T15:20:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ipsnews.net\/business\/#\/schema\/person\/cee3758d3201f95199de3522858ca7e2\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/ipsnews.net\/business\/2020\/06\/23\/1m-grant-will-help-researchers-explore-the-use-of-robotic-bees-for-crop-pollination\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/ipsnews.net\/business\/2020\/06\/23\/1m-grant-will-help-researchers-explore-the-use-of-robotic-bees-for-crop-pollination\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/ipsnews.net\/business\/2020\/06\/23\/1m-grant-will-help-researchers-explore-the-use-of-robotic-bees-for-crop-pollination\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/icrowdnewswire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/3998-ICN-408.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/icrowdnewswire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/3998-ICN-408.png\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/ipsnews.net\/business\/2020\/06\/23\/1m-grant-will-help-researchers-explore-the-use-of-robotic-bees-for-crop-pollination\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/ipsnews.net\/business\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"$1M grant will help researchers explore the use of robotic bees for crop pollination\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ipsnews.net\/business\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/ipsnews.net\/business\/\",\"name\":\"Business\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/ipsnews.net\/business\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ipsnews.net\/business\/#\/schema\/person\/cee3758d3201f95199de3522858ca7e2\",\"name\":\"Aneesa\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ipsnews.net\/business\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5635ace541744f4e232d93d2fafa63d478ed1fd5c863cbc1484fc2148961368f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5635ace541744f4e232d93d2fafa63d478ed1fd5c863cbc1484fc2148961368f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Aneesa\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/icrowdnewswire.com\/fc\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/ipsnews.net\/business\/author\/aneesa\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"$1M grant will help researchers explore the use of robotic bees for crop pollination - Business","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"http:\/\/ipsnews.net\/business\/2020\/06\/23\/1m-grant-will-help-researchers-explore-the-use-of-robotic-bees-for-crop-pollination\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"$1M grant will help researchers explore the use of robotic bees for crop pollination - Business","og_description":"Manoj Karkee, an associate professor in WSU’s Department of Biological Systems Engineering, is leading a team that’s exploring the potential of robotic pollination. (WSU Photo) Washington State University researchers are leading a team that’s exploring the use of robotic pollinators to assist fruit farmers. The project just received a three-year grant totaling nearly $1 million from the … Continue reading $1M grant will help researchers explore the use of robotic bees for crop pollination Continue Reading →","og_url":"http:\/\/ipsnews.net\/business\/2020\/06\/23\/1m-grant-will-help-researchers-explore-the-use-of-robotic-bees-for-crop-pollination\/","og_site_name":"Business","article_published_time":"2020-06-23T15:20:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/icrowdnewswire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/3998-ICN-408.png","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Aneesa","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Aneesa","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/ipsnews.net\/business\/2020\/06\/23\/1m-grant-will-help-researchers-explore-the-use-of-robotic-bees-for-crop-pollination\/","url":"http:\/\/ipsnews.net\/business\/2020\/06\/23\/1m-grant-will-help-researchers-explore-the-use-of-robotic-bees-for-crop-pollination\/","name":"$1M grant will help researchers explore the use of robotic bees for crop pollination - Business","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ipsnews.net\/business\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"http:\/\/ipsnews.net\/business\/2020\/06\/23\/1m-grant-will-help-researchers-explore-the-use-of-robotic-bees-for-crop-pollination\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"http:\/\/ipsnews.net\/business\/2020\/06\/23\/1m-grant-will-help-researchers-explore-the-use-of-robotic-bees-for-crop-pollination\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/icrowdnewswire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/3998-ICN-408.png","datePublished":"2020-06-23T15:20:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/ipsnews.net\/business\/#\/schema\/person\/cee3758d3201f95199de3522858ca7e2"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"http:\/\/ipsnews.net\/business\/2020\/06\/23\/1m-grant-will-help-researchers-explore-the-use-of-robotic-bees-for-crop-pollination\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["http:\/\/ipsnews.net\/business\/2020\/06\/23\/1m-grant-will-help-researchers-explore-the-use-of-robotic-bees-for-crop-pollination\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"http:\/\/ipsnews.net\/business\/2020\/06\/23\/1m-grant-will-help-researchers-explore-the-use-of-robotic-bees-for-crop-pollination\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/icrowdnewswire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/3998-ICN-408.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/icrowdnewswire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/3998-ICN-408.png"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"http:\/\/ipsnews.net\/business\/2020\/06\/23\/1m-grant-will-help-researchers-explore-the-use-of-robotic-bees-for-crop-pollination\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/ipsnews.net\/business\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"$1M grant will help researchers explore the use of robotic bees for crop pollination"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/ipsnews.net\/business\/#website","url":"https:\/\/ipsnews.net\/business\/","name":"Business","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/ipsnews.net\/business\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/ipsnews.net\/business\/#\/schema\/person\/cee3758d3201f95199de3522858ca7e2","name":"Aneesa","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/ipsnews.net\/business\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5635ace541744f4e232d93d2fafa63d478ed1fd5c863cbc1484fc2148961368f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5635ace541744f4e232d93d2fafa63d478ed1fd5c863cbc1484fc2148961368f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Aneesa"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/icrowdnewswire.com\/fc"],"url":"https:\/\/ipsnews.net\/business\/author\/aneesa\/"}]}},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipsnews.net\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30433","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipsnews.net\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipsnews.net\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipsnews.net\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipsnews.net\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30433"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ipsnews.net\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30433\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30434,"href":"https:\/\/ipsnews.net\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30433\/revisions\/30434"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipsnews.net\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipsnews.net\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipsnews.net\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}