Scientists fit bees with sensors to create ‘living IoT platform’

A research team from the University of Washington are turning bees into tiny drones to create a living IoT platform. An experiment with three various species of bees found they’re able to fly and hover while carrying up to around 105 milligrams. With this information, the researchers ensured their chip weighed just 102 milligrams. While traditional drones are used for gathering data, battery limitations mean they can only last around 30 minutes per charge. The researchers said they wanted to leverage nature’s best flying machines which can feed and recharge themselves. 70 milligrams of the chip is for a rechargeable lithium-ion battery with a runtime of around seven hours. The rest of the weight is for the microcontroller, antenna, and sensors which analyse humidity, temperature, and light intensity once every four seconds. To maximise battery efficiency, the researchers ensured minimal components were used in the design.