Our Work
Ideal Bee Documentation
01
Low Fidelity Prototype
In our prototype, we were not very focused on one specific issue the bees were facing. Instead, we added armor and spikes to keep mites off of the bee, larger stronger wings to help the bee avoid predators, and pesticide detecting antennas. essentially tackling almost every issue the bees were facing and leaving more room for error in each.
02
The Process
We decided to hone in our efforts on fighting Varroa mites by improving our armor to cover more of the bee's body, changing the pesticide sensors to mite sensors, reinforcing the wings to fight off the deformities mites can cause, and adding a scorpion tail so the bees can physically remove the mites.
03
Final Ideal Bee
Our final ideal bee has a scorpion tail that contains bee venom to sting the mites, as well as physically remove the mites from themselves and other bees. It also has full-body black metal armor to make the bee less noticeable to predators, prevent mites from attaching themselves to the bee, and prevent other bees from stinging them. Additionally, it has mite sensing antennas to help the bees locate mites in their hive and other hives. Finally, it has larger wings to combat the wing deformities mites cause and the weight added by the scorpion tail, as well as allow the bee to fly further in search of food.