Periodic Reporting for period 4 - HIVEOPOLIS (FUTURISTIC BEEHIVES FOR A SMART METROPOLIS)
Periodo di rendicontazione: 2023-04-01 al 2024-03-31
The HIVEOPOLIS project, rooted in a "tech for good" approach, investigated how digital technologies can support honeybee colonies. We explored diverse technological solutions to monitor and enhance colony health, breeding efforts, overwintering success, and foraging activity. These measures not only benefit the bees themselves but also the surrounding ecosystem by ensuring valuable pollination services, crucial for plant reproduction, which in turn supports the entire food web and helps provide habitat for numerous species.
Our approach also aimed to assist beekeepers and breeders by making honeybees more accessible through innovative technologies and design strategies. This includes modular hive designs accommodating technological components, a "bee traffic management system," and gentle, non-intrusive honey harvesting techniques. We also investigated various hive topologies, shapes, and organic materials, such as fungus-mycelium grown on 3D-printed cellulose-based structures filled with sawdust and coffee waste. This fungus transforms the structure into a stable, insulating mycelial material with suitable gas exchange.
Overall, we developed three distinct hive types for different stakeholders: technology-rich "star hives" for industrial beekeeping, sustainable "fungus hives" for small-scale beekeeping, and "community hives" for education and community engagement. These efforts culminated in the achievement of our three main objectives: (1) Super-Organismic Augmentation: Developing a technologically augmented beehive that supports bee well-being and survival in challenging environments; (2) Ecosystem Hacking: Increasing the environmental value of these beehives through focused, controllable ecosystem services coordinated among local hives; and (3) Biohybrid Socialization: Promoting futuristic beekeeping and associated technologies to emerging communities, with an emphasis on STEM education.
Our approach also aimed to assist beekeepers and breeders by making honeybees more accessible through innovative technologies and design strategies. This includes modular hive designs accommodating technological components, a "bee traffic management system," and gentle, non-intrusive honey harvesting techniques. We also investigated various hive topologies, shapes, and organic materials, such as fungus-mycelium grown on 3D-printed cellulose-based structures filled with sawdust and coffee waste. This fungus transforms the structure into a stable, insulating mycelial material with suitable gas exchange.
Overall, we developed three distinct hive types for different stakeholders: technology-rich "star hives" for industrial beekeeping, sustainable "fungus hives" for small-scale beekeeping, and "community hives" for education and community engagement. These efforts culminated in the achievement of our three main objectives: (1) Super-Organismic Augmentation: Developing a technologically augmented beehive that supports bee well-being and survival in challenging environments; (2) Ecosystem Hacking: Increasing the environmental value of these beehives through focused, controllable ecosystem services coordinated among local hives; and (3) Biohybrid Socialization: Promoting futuristic beekeeping and associated technologies to emerging communities, with an emphasis on STEM education.
During the first reporting period, we explored methodologies and developed initial prototypes for smart-hive components. This included rethinking hive architecture, investigating novel materials for growing hives, designing systems to control bees' access to specific hive areas, constructing robotic devices to interact with dancing bees, and creating systems for detailed measurements and modulations of the brood nest. Initial mathematical models were developed to understand elements at scales ranging from individual colonies to apiary locations.
The second period saw significant progress. A biotechnological construction method for hives was investigated, and different topological prototypes were tested. A central core prototype was developed, along with bee traffic observation and modulation systems within the hive. Key components for foraging modulation and new iterations of the brood nest module were created. Models were developed to assess brood nest metrics and make long-term predictions about the colony health status. Infrastructure for hive coordination, including data exchange and model-driven decision-making, was established.
During the third reporting period, several key technologies were developed. The honey harvesting system was refined to fit different beehive types, including an observation hive for experimental validation. pyHoPoMo, an ODE model describing key hive processes, was developed in Python with an interface for real-time sensory data, showing excellent accordance with experimental hive development. We improved the designs of the three basic hive types to integrate winter cluster modulation. A 3D printed clay scaffold filled with mycelial composite was tested as an eco-friendly insulation material. The most experimental hive was populated but rejected by the colony, leading to changes in form, assembly, management, and material composition. The "Star-hive" design, distributing hardware throughout the colony, was finalized. Artificial stimuli successfully modulated foraging behavior, influencing entire colonies even with minimal input, with the dance floor as interface between technology and biology.
The fourth reporting period focused on integrating HIVEOPOLIS technologies into operational beehives. The "fungus hive," designed from biotechnological materials, demonstrated successful overwintering, with the colony thriving after a full annual cycle. A honey-harvesting mechanism was assessed over a complete harvest cycle, allowing collection without opening the hive. Bees quickly adapted to this technology, potentially enabling daily honey harvesting with minimal disruption. Technology-driven modulation of foraging behavior was implemented through closed-loop controlled systems, guiding bees away from dangerous foraging sites. Other integrated technologies included a bee counter at the hive entrance, web-based data interfaces, and a smartphone application. A HIVEOPOLIS-derived "community hive" was placed at the Styrian beekeeper school and the University of Graz for observational studies.
Throughout the project, engagement with beekeeping and broader communities was achieved through targeted outreach activities, including symposiums, winter schools for young researchers, courses for beekeepers, public exhibitions and training sessions. The project successfully accomplished its milestones, integrating and evaluating technologies across multiple facets of the initiative, focusing on research with high scientific impact and potential for commercialization.
The second period saw significant progress. A biotechnological construction method for hives was investigated, and different topological prototypes were tested. A central core prototype was developed, along with bee traffic observation and modulation systems within the hive. Key components for foraging modulation and new iterations of the brood nest module were created. Models were developed to assess brood nest metrics and make long-term predictions about the colony health status. Infrastructure for hive coordination, including data exchange and model-driven decision-making, was established.
During the third reporting period, several key technologies were developed. The honey harvesting system was refined to fit different beehive types, including an observation hive for experimental validation. pyHoPoMo, an ODE model describing key hive processes, was developed in Python with an interface for real-time sensory data, showing excellent accordance with experimental hive development. We improved the designs of the three basic hive types to integrate winter cluster modulation. A 3D printed clay scaffold filled with mycelial composite was tested as an eco-friendly insulation material. The most experimental hive was populated but rejected by the colony, leading to changes in form, assembly, management, and material composition. The "Star-hive" design, distributing hardware throughout the colony, was finalized. Artificial stimuli successfully modulated foraging behavior, influencing entire colonies even with minimal input, with the dance floor as interface between technology and biology.
The fourth reporting period focused on integrating HIVEOPOLIS technologies into operational beehives. The "fungus hive," designed from biotechnological materials, demonstrated successful overwintering, with the colony thriving after a full annual cycle. A honey-harvesting mechanism was assessed over a complete harvest cycle, allowing collection without opening the hive. Bees quickly adapted to this technology, potentially enabling daily honey harvesting with minimal disruption. Technology-driven modulation of foraging behavior was implemented through closed-loop controlled systems, guiding bees away from dangerous foraging sites. Other integrated technologies included a bee counter at the hive entrance, web-based data interfaces, and a smartphone application. A HIVEOPOLIS-derived "community hive" was placed at the Styrian beekeeper school and the University of Graz for observational studies.
Throughout the project, engagement with beekeeping and broader communities was achieved through targeted outreach activities, including symposiums, winter schools for young researchers, courses for beekeepers, public exhibitions and training sessions. The project successfully accomplished its milestones, integrating and evaluating technologies across multiple facets of the initiative, focusing on research with high scientific impact and potential for commercialization.
The HIVEOPOLIS project went significantly beyond the state-of-the-art in technology-enhanced beehives, often referred to as “smart beehives”. While numerous such systems are available on the market, they typically focus on 3 main functionalities: (1) measuring hive weights, (2) measuring certain physical parameters of the hive climate, and (3) measuring flight activity at the hive's entrance/exit. Our HIVEOPOLIS technology also provides these functionalities but goes significantly beyond, as it uniquely includes technology that not only observes/measures the bees but also modulates their behaviors. This enables a closed-loop control system across the hive, connecting inputs from multiple submodules, computing desired actions through on-board mathematical models and simulations, and ultimately modulating the hive in desired ways.
To achieve this, we developed specific digital technologies that did not exist before. One prominent example is the digital brood comb, which can read the colony state regarding brood nest size and shape in summer, as well as the winter cluster’s size and position. Based on this data, the comb can deliver targeted heating to promote brood production or support and even guide the winter cluster in an autonomous closed-loop control setting. Another technology that significantly advances the state of the art is the honey harvester, which allows harvesting honey without opening the hive, thus without disturbing the colony. While similar technologies exist, the HIVEOPOLIS honey harvester is less invasive and disruptive. Additionally, the breadth of technologies we developed for supporting and regulating various intra-colonial processes, along with their level of integration, far surpasses that of “classic” smart beehives.
Ultimately, our investigation into sustainable materials like fungus mycelial composites, fabricated using a combination of digital technologies (mechatronics and sensor arrays) and biotechnology, resulted in a novel biohybrid system.
To achieve this, we developed specific digital technologies that did not exist before. One prominent example is the digital brood comb, which can read the colony state regarding brood nest size and shape in summer, as well as the winter cluster’s size and position. Based on this data, the comb can deliver targeted heating to promote brood production or support and even guide the winter cluster in an autonomous closed-loop control setting. Another technology that significantly advances the state of the art is the honey harvester, which allows harvesting honey without opening the hive, thus without disturbing the colony. While similar technologies exist, the HIVEOPOLIS honey harvester is less invasive and disruptive. Additionally, the breadth of technologies we developed for supporting and regulating various intra-colonial processes, along with their level of integration, far surpasses that of “classic” smart beehives.
Ultimately, our investigation into sustainable materials like fungus mycelial composites, fabricated using a combination of digital technologies (mechatronics and sensor arrays) and biotechnology, resulted in a novel biohybrid system.