Robotic bees could support VFs and astronauts
Added on 19 July 2023
In vertical farming operations, artificial lights and artificial intelligence coax plants, stacked densely on towering shelves rather than spread over a field, to grow indoors with minimal human intervention. That’s the goal. But despite lofty promises of bringing fresh produce to local markets, these systems have not yet provided a climate-friendly way to feed the world’s growing population. Can robotic “bees,” a buzzy technology straight out of science fiction, rescue these high-tech operations?
The world’s first commercial vertical farm opened in Singapore in 2012. More businesses cropped up in the following years, with major players such as Infarm and AeroFarms securing hundreds of millions in funding over the next decade. With the help of sustainable systems such as hydroponics, as well as artificial intelligence to closely monitor plant growth and water usage, some companies and experts claim these futuristic farms could tackle global food insecurity—without the massive land and water footprint of conventional operations.
These farms “have the potential to contribute a meaningful amount to our diets,” says Thomas Graham, who researches controlled environment agriculture at the University of Guelph in Ontario. And companies can place them nearly anywhere.
Image by wirestock on Freepik
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