PRESENTATION DESCRIPTION

"AI and Honey Bee Keeping"

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is set to bring the biggest changes to beekeeping since the Langstroth hive. It is giving us "check engine lights" for our colonies, and new, bee-safe ways to kill Varroa. Beekeeper Fred Nichols will step us through the advanced tools AI is giving beekeepers right now, and a peak at even more powerful tools on the horizon.

Quick Preview of sensors already available or on the way include: landing board monitors that can tell if nectar and pollen foragers were successful, microphones that detect changing sounds in the hive to determine queen status, thermometer grids that track brood and cluster locations, and hive scales that look for weight trends (honey flow? swarm? robbing? Dearth?) But the seemingly magical goal of AI is to analyze these measurements all at once to provide real-time health assessments and predict colony health. Getting the most out of AI still faces hurdles, like getting all the equipment to talk with each other, bringing down the costs, and keeping the bees from propolizing the sensors! But all those are surmountable, and bees definitely have AI in their future.

SPEAKER BIO

Fred's Bio

Fred Nichols is on leave from the John Hopkins Applied Physics Lab (APL) where he was a program manager in National Security and Intelligence Information Systems. Prior to APL, he was a member of the Senior Executive Service (SES) as Counselor to the Undersecretary for Preparedness at the Department of Homeland Security.  His portfolio was preparedness and risk mitigation for national critical infrastructure against all Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, Explosive (CBRNE) as well as cyber threats.  Prior to government service, he was the Vice President of Government Affairs for the National Association of Manufactures.  He lives with his wife on a small farm in Poolesville Maryland