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A Materially Engineered Artificial Pollinator

posted by Fnord666 on Friday February 10 2017, @09:53PM   Printer-friendly
from the just-use-a-qtip dept.

takyon writes:

Scientists have created a tiny drone capable of pollinating plants:

The device is about the size of a hummingbird, and has four spinning blades to keep it soaring. With enough practice, the scientists were able to maneuver the remote-controlled bot so that only the bristles, and not the bulky body or blades, brushed gently against a flower's stamen to collect pollen [open, DOI: 10.1016/j.chempr.2017.01.008] [DX]—in this case, a wild lily (Lilium japonicum), they report today in Chem. To ensure the hairs collect pollen efficiently, the researchers covered them with ionic liquid gel (ILG), a sticky substance with a long-lasting "lift-and-stick-again" adhesive quality—perfect for taking pollen from one flower to the next.

The current version is not autonomous and must be piloted by a human.

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  • (Score: 2) by acid andy on Friday February 10 2017, @10:17PM

    by acid andy (1683) on Friday February 10 2017, @10:17PM (#465605) Homepage Journal

    Now they won't have to worry about killing off all the bees with pesticides. : (

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  • (Score: 2) by takyon on Friday February 10 2017, @10:21PM

    by takyon (881) <takyonNO@SPAMsoylentnews.org> on Friday February 10 2017, @10:21PM (#465607) Journal

    It could be good for indoor pollinating.

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  • (Score: 2) by Gaaark on Friday February 10 2017, @10:24PM

    by Gaaark (41) on Friday February 10 2017, @10:24PM (#465608) Journal

    Yeah! Take that, bees. We don' need no steenkin' bees.

    All hail Monsanto for getting rid of dose bees we don' steenkin' need no more.

    Heil Monsanto, Heil Monsanto!

    **Is this a just in case thing, or was it paid for BY Monsanto to say, "Hey, see? We don't need the bees.... you know, because SOMETHING is killing them... and we know it's none of OUR products, lol, but see? See? Evolution! Darwin probably predicted the bees downfall anyways!"

    The current version is not autonomous and must be piloted by a human.

    Cause, you know, they could have been piloted by, say, bees.... but yeah. Yeah....

    [sarc mode in full]

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 10 2017, @11:41PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 10 2017, @11:41PM (#465629)

    Some of us have never worried about that. :D

  • (Score: 2) by Bot on Friday February 10 2017, @11:57PM

    by Bot (3902) on Friday February 10 2017, @11:57PM (#465632) Journal

    Your pollinator 3.11 license has expired, what do you want to do?
    ▢ renew license or
    ▢ die

    The invariant of the control freaks is to eliminate all that is free.

    You could punch a hole in the ground and get water, right? Now you get pesticides. After the bees die out will they stop? nope, what's next? ants?

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  • (Score: 3, Funny) by linkdude64 on Saturday February 11 2017, @08:52AM

    by linkdude64 (5482) on Saturday February 11 2017, @08:52AM (#465717)

    Well, it is good to have a plan Bee...

    I'll see myself out.