Non-invasive Honeybee Colony Monitoring via Robotic Mapping of Combs in Observation Hives

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F68407700%3A21230%2F25%3A00385798" target="_blank" >RIV/68407700:21230/25:00385798 - isvavai.cz</a>

Result on the web

<a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compag.2025.111031" target="_blank" >https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compag.2025.111031</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.compag.2025.111031" target="_blank" >10.1016/j.compag.2025.111031</a>

Result language

angličtina

Original language name

Non-invasive Honeybee Colony Monitoring via Robotic Mapping of Combs in Observation Hives

Original language description

Honeybees play a crucial role in our ecosystem, as their pollination efforts directly affect the global food web and biodiversity of flowering plants. Consequently, in light of the worldwide decline of pollinators, understanding the dynamics of honeybee colonies and monitoring their health attracted high research interest. One possible approach to health assessments is to estimate the number of brood and food storage cells in the honeybee comb. However, the cells are difficult to observe directly due to occlusions caused by the worker bees. This requires either manual removal of the comb and brushing off the bees, or continuous monitoring of the entire comb. In this work, we present a method for automated monitoring of brood cells over long time periods by a robot operating in observation hive. Our approach uses focused honeybee queen observations to detect egg-laying events and opportunistic and irregular image scans to detect and classify individual cells in the comb. By combining these modules with a temporal model of brood development, we create a spatially and temporally consistent semantic map of the comb. The resulting map allows us to continuously estimate the total numbers of different brood cell types in the comb, as well as the brood cannibalism rate. Although the robotic platform used in this study is not applicable to standard hives, our work contributes valuable data for modeling honeybee colonies and understanding the structural dynamics of the comb.

Czech name

—

Czech description

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Type

J_imp - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database

CEP classification

—

OECD FORD branch

10201 - Computer sciences, information science, bioinformathics (hardware development to be 2.2, social aspect to be 5.8)

Project

<a href="/en/project/EH22_008%2F0004590" target="_blank" >EH22_008/0004590: Robotics and advanced industrial production</a><br>

Continuities

P - Projekt vyzkumu a vyvoje financovany z verejnych zdroju (s odkazem do CEP)<br>S - Specificky vyzkum na vysokych skolach

Publication year

2025

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Name of the periodical

Computers and Electronics in Agriculture

ISSN

0168-1699

e-ISSN

1872-7107

Volume of the periodical

239

Issue of the periodical within the volume

C

Country of publishing house

CH - SWITZERLAND

Number of pages

21

Pages from-to

1-21

UT code for WoS article

001599217200001

EID of the result in the Scopus database

2-s2.0-105018672956