Satoh Laboratory＞Research＞Smart Urban Beekeeping

Smart Urban Beekeeping


Smart Urban Beekeeping

  Creating an urban space full of nature with bee

Bees are involved in pollination of crop species that make up 90% of the world's food. Beekeeping contributes greatly to realize the SDGs, which have permeated not only governments and companies but also the general public for a sustainable society. Beekeeping is gradually spreading as the only livestock industry that can be started by individuals. In recent years, attention has been focused on urban beekeeping as well as the spread of urban agriculture. IoT technology such as remote sensing is promoted for agriculture and is advancing, but IoT is rarely used for beekeeping. Therefore, we are onducting research to introduce IoT technology into conventional beekeeping that relies on experience and perception. We are developing a system remotely monitoring information that even a professional beekeeper cannot find without observing the inside and outside of the beehive with sensors and cameras..
Urban beekeeping is a small volunteer activity in a local community, and many individual beekeepers can only check their beehives on weekends, while professional beekeepers have a lot of beehives and check conditions of bees daily. Many amateurs care the bees as a kind of pet, but collecting honey is not a priority. Therefore, they want to watch their bees and to know their health conditions anytime and anywher. In order to meet such demands and expand the field of beekeeping, a system that anyone can easily use is indispensable, not an expensive experimental device. Therefore, we are developing a remote-monitering system to be accessed by a smartphone, where microcomputer boards, sensors, and network cameras, which are becoming hiher performance and less expensive are integrated.