We had all heard about natural pollinators such as honey bees disappearing at a fast rate. Robobees may soon take their place. Researchers at West Virginia University (WVU) have developed an autonomous robot that can pollinate bramble plants in a greenhouse. BrambleBee uses modern localization, mapping, and path planning combined with precise manipulation techniques to get the job done.
BrambleBee drives around the area to inspect plants and update its map. Since Bramble flowers can be self-pollinated, BrambleBee doesn’t need to get pollen from other flowers. The robot is mainly based on a ClearPath Robotics Husky platform with a Kinova Jaco robotic arm.
[HT]