During the XXII State Beekeeping Conference in Murcia, organised by the COAG (Coordinator of Farmers and Cattle Ranchers Organisations), the IoBee project took its developments straight to Spanish beekeepers last 17 October 2018. During the Conference, IoBee shared directly with beekeepers from all different regions from Spain. In the form of a workshop, beekeepers were able to be informed about the project aiming to improve the health of bees, and they had the chance to share their feedback.
Here, you may find an extract of the information provided on the project:
Initially, the IoBee team gave a straightforward introduction on what the Internet of Bees is. Which, in simple terms, is a project financed by the European Union under the framework of Horizon 2020. Five partners from different countries of the EU gathered to create a plan to improve the health of bees through applied technology and earned the European Commission’s funding. Such is the origin of IoBee.
As revealed to Spanish beekeepers, the primary goal of the project is to help improve the health of bees thanks to innovation in beekeeping. To do so, it establishes technology as a keyword. IoBee develops a double-edged monitoring system to be made available for beekeepers. The project aims towards developing a valuable, efficient and accessible tool that is at the disposal of virtually any beekeeper.
XXII State Beekeeping Conference in Murcia 15, 16 & 17 October, 2018
The project applies technology based on the Internet of Things, in the connectivity of objects. IoT enables IoBee to install digital monitors and automatically process information, which would otherwise require manual labour.
The development of IoBee is, however, not aiming to create a replacement of labour in beekeeping. Instead, it is working to provide them with a tool that will exponentiate their know-how. Punctually, IoBee aims to give the beekeeper with valuable information, with insights on the status of their hives and with alerts on any threats detected in the colony.
IoBee has two fields. First, it works to gather essential information from monitoring the hive. Its monitoring systems are already being tested in real conditions to tweak its parameters. The system counts with devices such as a bee counter, a weather pack and bioacoustics sensor, a beehive scale.
As a result, beekeepers will receive alerts on thefts, position shifts, humidity, bee activity, queen status, weight, weather conditions, pest presence such as nosema, varroa, small hive beetles, and even external threats as Vespa Velutina.
Second, by gathering all monitoring information and compiling it in its cloud platform, it can later contrast it with data acquired from satellite mapping. IoBee is currently working towards providing beekeepers with information on flowering periods and location, as well as other prediction capabilities through phenology.
All valuable information, internal and external, is processed and made available to the beekeeper through any Internet-enabled device (computer, tablet, mobile phone).
Thanks to the feedback of beekeepers, it is clear that IoBee is shaping up to be a valuable tool. In a moment when competitivity is critical, they can significantly benefit from the insights which systems as IoBee can offer. Thanks to the integration of technological innovation and beekeeping, the future of bees might look brighter, and even beyond. Bees are essential to the environment, and they also measure its quality. Healthier bees through technology could mean a healthier environment in the future. In Spain, it will start with IoBee field tests which will take place soon thanks to the collaboration with Spanish beekeepers and researchers.