Results: Walmart wants to patent robot bees

Source: Yahoo Finance. Robot bees have hit the big time. In the 10 days since Walmart's patent application for "systems and methods for pollinating crops via unmanned vehicles" came to light, the idea of building drones to do what bees do has gone viral. Are you familiar with this story?

CB Insights says the patent application is one of six that Walmart filed for farm automation applications, including crop monitoring, pest identification and pesticide spraying. On one level, the applications are the result of Walmart's efforts to keep pace with Amazon's drone development program. Last year for example, Amazon won a patent for a flying warehouse that serves as a drone base, and Walmart filed for a similar patent. Do you think the robot bees is a good idea for pollinating crops?

On another level, CB Insights speculates that Walmart's farm-related patents may be related to a long-term goal of increasing control over its supply chain for produce. "By taking more control over how its produce is grown, Walmart could a) potentially save on costs, by vertically integrating its food supply chain, b) manage crop yields more effectively, and c) increase its emphasis on transparency and sustainability to attract shoppers," CB Insights said. Unfortunately for Walmart, folks have been talking about robot bees for years. Researchers at Harvard and the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering have long been working on "RoboBees" for pollination and other purposes. Do you think the main reason for the Walmart patent is to increase produce sales by attracting shoppers?

Last year, researchers in Japan said they outfitted palm-sized, remote-controlled drones with patches of gel-covered horsehair and sent them on missions to pollinate lilies. The experiment worked, but the drones would have to incorporate computer vision, GPS navigation and artificial intelligence to make the procedure worthwhile. Closer to home, a Seattle startup called DroneSeed has developed a system that uses drones to plant trees, water them and drop fertilizer and herbicides from the air. That's not pollination, but it comes close to some of Walmart's other patent applications. Are you familiar with the remote-controlled drones from Japan, or the DroneSeed from Seattle?