Beekeeping technology is moving steadily towards robotization. The latest advance is a beekeeping robot, an amazing device developed by the Korean company Daesung. Called the Hive Controller, this equipment is capable of removing frames of honey from a hive, saving the beekeeper this effort. Little by little, robotic technology is making its way into beekeeping and this beekeeping robot is just one step in this race.
1 – How does the Hive Controller beekeeping robot work?
One of the most difficult tasks in beekeeping is to remove the frames loaded with honey from the hives. They are heavy, firmly glued with propolis on the supers and force beekeepers to hold them with their fingers, in generally uncomfortable positions. Beekeepers often suffer from back pain – lumbago and other ailments – and, above all, from the famous beekeeper’s arthritis, which combines recurrent stings with the constant lifting of weight with the fingers.
To solve these problems comes the Hive Controller, a beekeeping robot developed under the brand name Smart Hive by the Korean company Daesung. The idea is simple, but revolutionary: a device that, placed on the open hive, is able to detach, lift, brush and extract each frame of honey.
The hive controller is a truly ingenious machine. It weighs about 11 kilos, to which must be added the 2 kilos of the battery. It is made of aluminum and has two distinct parts.
On the one hand, a central body that is equipped with a sensor capable of detecting the location of the frames.
On the other, a support on which the robot places the frames that it takes out of the hive boxes.
The operation is very simple: the hive is opened, the beekeeping robot is placed on it and it starts. The sensor automatically starts recognizing the frames and is able to identify them even if they are of different widths. Then, scoops grab and remove each frame, passing them between two smooth rollers that brush the bees off, causing them to fall back into the box.
Finally, the system leaves the frame in the loading area, from where the beekeeper can pick it up and take it away.
The process takes about a minute per frame and each battery pack can remove frames from 50 hives.
