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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.
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Saturday February 11 2017, @06:07PM
That's only one of the problems I saw in a paper I got to from Google News: it's damned expensive. There were other reasons, such as the drones suck at pollinating and often harm the plants they're pollinating. As this guy [sussex.ac.uk] from the University of Sussex notes, bees only do 1/3 of pollination. He also states that natural pollination is free, but often it isn't. Farmers pay beekeepers to bring their hives to their farms.
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