I-Corps: Software that allows beekeepers to identify potential bee health issues

University Of Montana, Missoula MT

Investigators

Abstract

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is to improve the health of bees. Pollination due to bees is responsible for more than $15 billion in increased crop value each year. The proposed technology uses artificial intelligence to listen to bees and compare their in-hive sounds to an extensive database of healthy and unhealthy bees. This technology has the potential to significantly reduce the time commercial beekeepers spend inspecting their bees, and as a result to improve the health of the bees. The technology also has the potential to allow more people to become backyard beekeepers as they now have a technology tool to help them asses their bees' health. This I-Corps project seeks to evaluate the commercial potential of technology that listens to bees at the hive entrance for 30 seconds, and then compares that sound to an onboard proprietary database of recorded reference sounds of bees having specific health issues. Using artificial neural network software, the technology rapidly assesses whether the sounds match those made by bees with one of seven bee health issues significant to beekeepers. These health issues are Queenless, Varroa mite, Africanized, Small Hive Beetle, Foul Brood, Nosema Ceranae and Failing Colony (sometimes referred to as Colony Collapse Disorder). Extensive global research has been conducted on listening to bees in the hive and matching those sounds to very specific bee health issues. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.