A wireless, user-friendly, and unattended robotic flower system to assess pollinator foraging behaviour

Abstract

1. Pollinator foraging is a complex behaviour that has major importance for gene dispersal in plant populations. The precise behaviour of foraging insects is subject to both external (light and temperature, floral reward characteristics, flower colour and shape, flower density, etc.) and internal factors such as recognition capabilities, age and foraging experience or health of insects. How exactly these different factors affect foraging behaviour remains a subject of study, which often requires data collection. 2. In this study, we present a wireless and cost-effective robotic flower that automatically offers nectar to visiting insects while monitoring visitation time and duration. To achieve this, the robotic flower is equipped with Internet of Things (IoT) technology, making it possible to get real-time data without interfering or even getting close to the experimental system. This makes more remote experiments without internet and power grid connection possible. Compared to previous robotic systems, the setup can easily be changed (also during a trial). Moreover, the nectar refilling rate can be altered remotely as well. Being completely wireless and autonomous, this system is mobile and easy to fix or clean. 3. With the settings used in the prototype, one battery charge can cover an experimental period of approximately two weeks. Discrete amounts of nectar (volume can be altered by changing the 3D-design of the nectar-cup) are offered to visitors. Data for more than 1500 visits per day per flower can be registered and are presented to the user in a CSV-file. 4. The robotic flower solves some issues commonly associated with manual censuses and observations while it provides accurate and reliable data on insect behaviour at the same time. Although the system was designed for bees, it could be extended to other insects commonly visiting flowers, such as flies, with minor changes to the design. The robotic flower is user friendly and can be easily adapted to address a wide range of research questions related to pollinator foraging behaviour, including the effect of nectar traits, flower colour and shape, and pollutants on foraging behaviour.

Recent progress in piezoelectric thin films as self-powered devices: material and application

“…The sensing layer obtains data from the external physical world through various means such as sensors or digital cameras, and transmits it through a series of short-range transmission technologies such as radio frequency identification (RFID), industrial fieldbus, Bluetooth and infrared (Liu et al, 2020;Mrabet et al, 2020;Cui et al, 2021;Liu et al, 2022a). With the rapid development of intelligent manufacturing, intelligent transportation, smart city and wearable technology (Atlam et al, 2018;Eini et al, 2021;Lopez-Castaño et al, 2021;Mondal and Rehena, 2022;Debeuckelaere et al, 2023), the IoT has a great demand for the miniaturization, integration, and low power consumption of sensors (Botta et al, 2016;Silvano and Marcelino, 2020). At present, new flexible sensors have been used in medical devices, such as electronic skin, personal medical devices and prosthetics (Hwang et al, 2015;Liao et al, 2015;Chen et al, 2016;Choi et al, 2016;Chortos et al, 2016;Ge et al, 2016;Park et al, 2016;Zang et al, 2016).…”