WEBVTT 00:00:00.240 --> 00:00:06.660 in a world brimming with complexity few creatures 00:00:06.660 --> 00:00:12.839 embody harmony like the honeybee with tireless 00:00:12.839 --> 00:00:17.699 precision she dances from bloom to bloom each 00:00:17.699 --> 00:00:22.399 motion guided by millennia upon millennia of 00:00:22.399 --> 00:00:28.800 instinct each act in service to the whole and 00:00:28.800 --> 00:00:34.560 then There are the beekeepers, watchful stewards 00:00:34.560 --> 00:00:40.479 of this ancient symbiosis. Part agriscientist, 00:00:40.840 --> 00:00:45.460 part poet, they move along their hives with the 00:00:45.460 --> 00:00:50.560 efficiency of mow, levy and curly, tending to 00:00:50.560 --> 00:00:54.219 the bee's needs as best they can comprehend, 00:00:54.859 --> 00:00:59.679 and with the infrequency of a waterfall in the 00:00:59.679 --> 00:01:05.599 Sahara, sometimes running off flapping and flailing 00:01:05.599 --> 00:01:12.180 like a penguin on a hot sidewalk. This is their 00:01:12.180 --> 00:01:22.840 journey. Welcome, welcome to Be Love, Be Keep 00:01:22.840 --> 00:01:24.799 being presented by our great friends over at 00:01:24.799 --> 00:01:27.709 Man Lake. Today we're going to be discussing 00:01:27.709 --> 00:01:30.209 what the future of beekeeping just might look 00:01:30.209 --> 00:01:33.769 like. Have you ever pictured robotic arms tending 00:01:33.769 --> 00:01:37.870 hives? Optical recognition sensors inspecting 00:01:37.870 --> 00:01:41.269 individual frames, cells, and brood? How about 00:01:41.269 --> 00:01:44.670 generative AI and other high -tech tools evaluating 00:01:44.670 --> 00:01:47.549 the health of your bees and offering advice for 00:01:47.549 --> 00:01:51.540 the beekeeper? Cleared back in 1851, Lorenzo 00:01:51.540 --> 00:01:55.359 Langstroth revolutionized beekeeping by introducing 00:01:55.359 --> 00:01:58.799 the concept of movable frames and bee space. 00:01:59.439 --> 00:02:02.120 This made it easier and more efficient to inspect 00:02:02.120 --> 00:02:06.000 hives, control swarming, and harvest honey. In 00:02:06.000 --> 00:02:08.879 the last 200 years there have been oh some small 00:02:08.879 --> 00:02:12.539 modifications to his original design, but really 00:02:12.539 --> 00:02:16.039 the basic concept of the Langstroth hive has 00:02:16.039 --> 00:02:19.250 struggled to have any major advances. Of course 00:02:19.250 --> 00:02:21.509 there are some different hive designs, the top 00:02:21.509 --> 00:02:26.069 bar, waray, flow, skep, az, long laying, dartington, 00:02:26.590 --> 00:02:30.349 layens, etc. In the U .S. it's believed that 00:02:30.349 --> 00:02:34.669 approximately 80 % or more of total hives are 00:02:34.669 --> 00:02:38.060 still the basic Langstroth design. Today we're 00:02:38.060 --> 00:02:40.539 going to have a conversation with Elia Radziner, 00:02:40.919 --> 00:02:43.719 one of the founders and developers of BeeWise, 00:02:44.240 --> 00:02:47.860 a company working with robots, AI, and other 00:02:47.860 --> 00:02:51.199 tech to revolutionize beekeeping. As always, 00:02:51.479 --> 00:02:53.620 if you have feedback on what you think about 00:02:53.620 --> 00:02:56.879 this or other new beekeeping technology discussed 00:02:56.879 --> 00:02:59.879 on this podcast, hey please shoot me an email 00:02:59.879 --> 00:03:03.780 eric at beelovebeekeeping .com. We'd love to 00:03:03.780 --> 00:03:06.639 hear from our listeners. All right, now let's 00:03:06.639 --> 00:03:12.120 jump right into it. I'd like to welcome our guest 00:03:12.120 --> 00:03:14.199 today. This is going to be really fun. This is 00:03:14.199 --> 00:03:17.180 going to be really different. We have Elia Radziner 00:03:17.180 --> 00:03:21.699 with us. Elia, how are you? Good. How are you, 00:03:21.800 --> 00:03:24.840 Eric? I'm happy to be here. Oh, I'm great. I'm 00:03:24.840 --> 00:03:27.099 glad we can finally do this. We talked quite 00:03:27.099 --> 00:03:30.719 a while ago and we've come full circle now and 00:03:30.719 --> 00:03:33.379 we can have this whole discussion that everybody 00:03:33.379 --> 00:03:36.569 can listen to. Was I close on the pronunciation 00:03:36.569 --> 00:03:42.590 of your name? Spot on. Yes. All right. I get 00:03:42.590 --> 00:03:45.889 some kind of a reward for that, right? In my 00:03:45.889 --> 00:03:51.729 books, you do. The host of the day award. You 00:03:51.729 --> 00:03:54.430 can actually pronounce a guest's name. Before 00:03:54.430 --> 00:03:56.490 we jump into this, we're going to be talking, 00:03:56.689 --> 00:03:58.569 everybody, we're going to be talking about BeWise 00:03:58.569 --> 00:04:02.629 today. be home. Some people think this only applies 00:04:02.629 --> 00:04:07.789 to commercial beekeepers but we're gonna learn 00:04:07.789 --> 00:04:11.430 all about it anyway whether you are a hobbyist 00:04:11.430 --> 00:04:14.810 or a sideliner or whatever. This is gonna be 00:04:14.810 --> 00:04:18.110 cool stuff to learn about. Alia let's start with 00:04:18.110 --> 00:04:20.670 your journey just a little bit. What got you 00:04:20.670 --> 00:04:22.689 into beekeeping? How long have you been doing 00:04:22.689 --> 00:04:25.470 it? Where did you do it? There's ten questions 00:04:25.470 --> 00:04:29.120 just go tell us about you and beekeeping. Yeah, 00:04:29.120 --> 00:04:32.439 so unlike a lot of commercial beekeepers today, 00:04:32.620 --> 00:04:35.620 I wasn't born into it. So I'm not a second or 00:04:35.620 --> 00:04:38.459 third generation beekeeper. I was always interested 00:04:38.459 --> 00:04:45.240 in ag and food and I actually went to an ag school 00:04:45.240 --> 00:04:48.720 kind of like a UC Davis kind of school where 00:04:48.720 --> 00:04:52.000 I was getting my bachelor's in plant science. 00:04:52.379 --> 00:04:54.620 That's where I was introduced to bees by a friend, 00:04:54.839 --> 00:04:58.220 you know. Just kind of keeping some bees in his 00:04:58.220 --> 00:05:01.439 backyard and suggested I could come and kind 00:05:01.439 --> 00:05:03.800 of lend a hand and help learn about the bees. 00:05:04.399 --> 00:05:06.519 Honestly, I just fell in love. I took all the 00:05:06.519 --> 00:05:10.060 courses that I could at university. And after 00:05:10.060 --> 00:05:12.540 graduating, I kind of took it up full time and 00:05:12.540 --> 00:05:16.600 started working for a commercial operation as 00:05:16.600 --> 00:05:20.800 a beekeeper. Always had my own hives on the side 00:05:20.800 --> 00:05:24.040 as well. A few years into that, one day out in 00:05:24.040 --> 00:05:27.120 the field, I had an idea, not really an idea, 00:05:27.240 --> 00:05:30.319 but more of a thought that computers could do 00:05:30.319 --> 00:05:34.519 my job better than I could. Oh, ouch. No, that 00:05:34.519 --> 00:05:37.959 can't be. Beekeeping is two hands on. I've heard 00:05:37.959 --> 00:05:42.779 that. I didn't know a lot about computer vision 00:05:42.779 --> 00:05:45.939 and robotics, but I knew a little bit. I had 00:05:45.939 --> 00:05:49.680 friends working in... you know, high -tech companies 00:05:49.680 --> 00:05:51.920 and startups and I knew what they were up to. 00:05:53.000 --> 00:05:57.920 And really, today we know that we can actually 00:05:57.920 --> 00:06:00.860 apply existing technologies. We didn't develop 00:06:00.860 --> 00:06:03.620 any technology at BeWise, any innovative technology. 00:06:03.939 --> 00:06:06.399 We're using existing technologies that are applied 00:06:06.399 --> 00:06:09.800 in other industries in beekeeping. Beekeeping 00:06:09.800 --> 00:06:13.579 is fascinating, you know, and it is hands -on. 00:06:13.899 --> 00:06:17.000 But with off -the -shelf technologies today like 00:06:17.000 --> 00:06:20.079 computer vision, machine learning, precision 00:06:20.079 --> 00:06:22.839 robotics, things are today pretty ubiquitous 00:06:22.839 --> 00:06:27.160 in other industries. We can actually see what's 00:06:27.160 --> 00:06:29.220 happening in hives in real time and address it 00:06:29.220 --> 00:06:31.899 in real time. Actually address the main challenges 00:06:31.899 --> 00:06:34.740 that beekeepers face today, which is understanding 00:06:34.740 --> 00:06:38.139 what's happening in the hives before it's too 00:06:38.139 --> 00:06:41.279 late. fixing it before it's too late. You know 00:06:41.279 --> 00:06:43.660 those two things aren't the same, they're separate. 00:06:44.720 --> 00:06:47.699 I think those are the two main drivers to colony 00:06:47.699 --> 00:06:50.459 loss today. But that's what we set out to do. 00:06:50.480 --> 00:06:54.120 It was 2018 when I had that thought. I was very 00:06:54.120 --> 00:06:58.319 fortunate in kind of meeting the right people 00:06:58.319 --> 00:07:02.860 to form the founding team of BYs and after that 00:07:02.860 --> 00:07:06.370 we were very fortunate. With the fundraising 00:07:06.370 --> 00:07:09.410 and the continuous, you know development of the 00:07:09.410 --> 00:07:11.709 team today were about a hundred and fifty people 00:07:11.709 --> 00:07:16.089 at be wise All dedicated to saving the bees Well, 00:07:16.089 --> 00:07:18.550 I like how you put it just a minute ago and I'm 00:07:18.550 --> 00:07:20.750 gonna get this wrong. My memory isn't perfect 00:07:20.750 --> 00:07:25.670 but Sound like you're diagnosing problems before 00:07:25.670 --> 00:07:28.790 they become too bad and then you're fixing those 00:07:28.790 --> 00:07:31.470 problems What were the words that you used? Yeah, 00:07:31.470 --> 00:07:35.790 I you know identifying the problem Knowing what's 00:07:35.790 --> 00:07:39.069 happening in the hive is really key. If you go 00:07:39.069 --> 00:07:42.029 out and join beekeepers in the field or if you're 00:07:42.029 --> 00:07:43.970 looking at YouTube videos of what beekeepers 00:07:43.970 --> 00:07:47.170 are doing, half of the time we're playing detective. 00:07:47.410 --> 00:07:49.750 I always felt when I went out to the hives and 00:07:49.750 --> 00:07:52.769 I'm like, Sherlock Holmes, opening this hive 00:07:52.769 --> 00:07:54.910 and it's not doing as well as the others and 00:07:54.910 --> 00:07:57.389 like, okay, what's happened to it and why and 00:07:57.389 --> 00:08:00.829 when, and what I'm looking at, is that just a 00:08:00.829 --> 00:08:04.160 symptom or is that the cause? that they lose 00:08:04.160 --> 00:08:07.800 the queen because there was no food or because 00:08:07.800 --> 00:08:10.220 the queen was old or there's something else going 00:08:10.220 --> 00:08:12.660 on. So you're always playing detective. You don't 00:08:12.660 --> 00:08:15.899 really know what's going on. And even when you 00:08:15.899 --> 00:08:21.180 do, it's very often too late, which is the devastating 00:08:21.180 --> 00:08:24.839 part. I'm sure all your listeners are familiar 00:08:24.839 --> 00:08:27.060 with going out to the bees and finding empty 00:08:27.060 --> 00:08:30.660 boxes where the bees used to be. And, you know, 00:08:30.720 --> 00:08:33.480 that's such a hard feeling, such a hard experience. 00:08:34.039 --> 00:08:38.600 Or boxes full of dead bees. Yeah. And it's an 00:08:38.600 --> 00:08:41.960 emotional thing. This principle that you're talking 00:08:41.960 --> 00:08:45.860 about, I mean, with the big bee die off this 00:08:45.860 --> 00:08:49.919 year here in North America, it seems like had 00:08:49.919 --> 00:08:53.320 we diagnosed these things early, we could have 00:08:53.320 --> 00:08:55.899 fixed a lot of them. And it may not have been 00:08:55.899 --> 00:08:59.460 so bad, but instead it was Okay, it's January. 00:08:59.460 --> 00:09:02.299 We're headed to California. Here come the bees 00:09:02.299 --> 00:09:06.820 open up the boxes and it's too late So but you 00:09:06.820 --> 00:09:08.759 know what we haven't even told anybody what be 00:09:08.759 --> 00:09:12.320 wise is yet. So please give us an overview What 00:09:12.320 --> 00:09:15.720 are we talking about here? so I'll actually start 00:09:15.720 --> 00:09:18.379 off with really the challenges that we're trying 00:09:18.379 --> 00:09:21.820 to solve and it's gonna be a Seamless continuation 00:09:21.820 --> 00:09:24.559 of the last point we're discussing and that will 00:09:24.559 --> 00:09:27.350 help us understand what be wise is When I had 00:09:27.350 --> 00:09:29.509 that thought in 2018 that a computer could do 00:09:29.509 --> 00:09:33.049 things better, we didn't rush off and build a 00:09:33.049 --> 00:09:36.009 bee home. We didn't know what we wanted to do. 00:09:36.309 --> 00:09:38.169 But very quickly, I had a few people who were 00:09:38.169 --> 00:09:40.730 interested in the idea of helping bees with technology 00:09:40.730 --> 00:09:43.210 and understanding what the real problems are. 00:09:43.350 --> 00:09:44.889 And that's the first thing we did was really 00:09:44.889 --> 00:09:47.639 try and look and understand. What are the main 00:09:47.639 --> 00:09:50.940 challenges that beekeepers face today? And we 00:09:50.940 --> 00:09:53.220 realized that there are three main challenges. 00:09:53.440 --> 00:09:55.759 The first challenge is what I call distance. 00:09:55.960 --> 00:09:58.779 Beekeeping is a distributed system. So unless 00:09:58.779 --> 00:10:01.279 you have only two hives in your backyard, as 00:10:01.279 --> 00:10:03.679 soon as you have more than two hives in your 00:10:03.679 --> 00:10:05.840 backyard, you're talking about a distributed 00:10:05.840 --> 00:10:09.639 system where you have small groups of hives far 00:10:09.639 --> 00:10:12.480 away from each other. Now you might be a commercial 00:10:12.480 --> 00:10:14.840 beekeeper where you're running bees, you know. 00:10:14.909 --> 00:10:18.190 thousands of hives all across the state. You 00:10:18.190 --> 00:10:20.610 might be a sideline or a hobbyist with fewer 00:10:20.610 --> 00:10:23.690 hives, but they're always spread out. You never 00:10:23.690 --> 00:10:26.409 have a tremendous number of hives in one place. 00:10:26.610 --> 00:10:28.629 And this is different than any other type of 00:10:28.629 --> 00:10:30.769 agriculture, right? You mentioned almonds before. 00:10:30.970 --> 00:10:32.769 An almond grower, you know, they have a ranch, 00:10:33.169 --> 00:10:35.429 a thousand acres, all the trees are in one place. 00:10:35.730 --> 00:10:38.070 So this is distance. This brings us to the second 00:10:38.070 --> 00:10:42.610 challenge, which is time or timing. because hives 00:10:42.610 --> 00:10:46.450 are in small groups far away, we don't have an 00:10:46.450 --> 00:10:49.889 on -site team like the almond ranch, you know, 00:10:50.009 --> 00:10:53.690 with the bees all day every day. Rather, we have 00:10:53.690 --> 00:10:56.649 a team that cycles through the yards. So, you 00:10:56.649 --> 00:10:58.490 know, today I'm going to visit these couple of 00:10:58.490 --> 00:11:00.149 yards, tomorrow I'm going to visit another couple 00:11:00.149 --> 00:11:02.210 of yards, and the next time I'm going to get 00:11:02.210 --> 00:11:04.730 back to my hives is another couple of weeks, 00:11:04.929 --> 00:11:07.370 two or three weeks away. The third challenge 00:11:07.370 --> 00:11:11.360 is expertise. And I think this is a very powerful 00:11:11.360 --> 00:11:14.200 one, both for commercial beekeepers and hobbyists. 00:11:14.580 --> 00:11:16.580 Commercial beekeepers might be very, very experienced 00:11:16.580 --> 00:11:19.179 beekeepers, but often they're not the ones in 00:11:19.179 --> 00:11:22.919 the field opening up the hives, trying to determine 00:11:22.919 --> 00:11:24.740 what's going on with the hives, trying to make 00:11:24.740 --> 00:11:28.399 decisions. They usually have, you know, labor, 00:11:28.779 --> 00:11:32.559 employees, often beginning labor. The hobbyists, 00:11:32.559 --> 00:11:34.679 when I started off as a hobbyist beekeeper, you 00:11:34.679 --> 00:11:36.620 know, before I got into the commercial aspect, 00:11:36.840 --> 00:11:39.330 I felt the same. We didn't really know what we 00:11:39.330 --> 00:11:43.470 were doing and we would call people who knew 00:11:43.470 --> 00:11:46.230 and try to ask and try to understand, but you 00:11:46.230 --> 00:11:48.070 don't really understand what's going on. It takes 00:11:48.070 --> 00:11:50.509 a lot of expertise. When we kind of looked at 00:11:50.509 --> 00:11:53.269 these three challenges, we said, okay, bees have 00:11:53.269 --> 00:11:55.990 their own challenges. Bees are facing them for 00:11:55.990 --> 00:11:58.929 our mites, pesticides that are being applied 00:11:58.929 --> 00:12:04.769 in their area and disease and viruses for forage. 00:12:05.210 --> 00:12:09.230 Bees are facing all these challenges. But we're 00:12:09.230 --> 00:12:13.809 trying to help them while we're only visiting 00:12:13.809 --> 00:12:17.269 the hive less than 10 % of the time with not 00:12:17.269 --> 00:12:20.649 enough experience and spending 40 % of the time 00:12:20.649 --> 00:12:23.629 in the car. And suddenly when we looked at the 00:12:23.629 --> 00:12:26.950 high loss numbers with the tools that we were 00:12:26.950 --> 00:12:30.629 trying to cope with, it suddenly didn't look 00:12:30.629 --> 00:12:34.309 so absurd. It was always like... that we're losing 00:12:34.309 --> 00:12:36.809 30, 40 % of our bees every year. This was, you 00:12:36.809 --> 00:12:39.250 know, five, six years ago before we got up to 00:12:39.250 --> 00:12:44.470 60%. And it felt like, how could this be? But 00:12:44.470 --> 00:12:47.070 when we really took the problem apart and kind 00:12:47.070 --> 00:12:49.450 of looked at why is it so difficult to keep bees 00:12:49.450 --> 00:12:52.070 alive, we realized that we just didn't have the 00:12:52.070 --> 00:12:55.169 tools to cope or to help the bees cope with their 00:12:55.169 --> 00:12:59.549 challenges, which again, the bee challenges and 00:12:59.549 --> 00:13:03.289 the beekeeper challenges are different. Just 00:13:03.289 --> 00:13:06.330 to recap, we're talking about distance, time, 00:13:06.389 --> 00:13:09.450 and expertise. And when we looked at these three, 00:13:10.330 --> 00:13:13.470 we realized that a concept that could solve this 00:13:13.470 --> 00:13:16.929 is what we call today remote beekeeping. What 00:13:16.929 --> 00:13:19.470 if we could not only see what's happening in 00:13:19.470 --> 00:13:23.690 the hive, but actually treat it without sending 00:13:23.690 --> 00:13:26.730 someone out there? It's just a matter. Again, 00:13:26.750 --> 00:13:28.769 this is before we had the bee home, before we 00:13:28.769 --> 00:13:32.100 had anything. And we realized that if we had 00:13:32.100 --> 00:13:35.080 this, we could actually provide professional 00:13:35.080 --> 00:13:39.340 beekeepers, experienced beekeepers, a tool to 00:13:39.340 --> 00:13:43.299 manage their hives at scale on a per hive basis. 00:13:43.840 --> 00:13:46.779 Today, everything is done with a blanket approach. 00:13:47.440 --> 00:13:52.059 Blanket feeding, blanket treating of mites, antibiotics, 00:13:52.279 --> 00:13:54.980 everything is done blanket approach. With this 00:13:54.980 --> 00:13:57.980 type of approach with remote beekeeping, you 00:13:57.980 --> 00:14:00.559 can actually treat every hive according to what 00:14:00.559 --> 00:14:03.779 it needs. If this hive needs feeding today but 00:14:03.779 --> 00:14:06.419 this hive doesn't, you can feed this hive and 00:14:06.419 --> 00:14:09.879 not that hive. If this hive is losing its queen, 00:14:10.200 --> 00:14:12.899 you can introduce brood from another hive, introduce 00:14:12.899 --> 00:14:15.639 eggs or larvae from another hive, and help that 00:14:15.639 --> 00:14:17.779 hive along until you get there so it doesn't 00:14:17.779 --> 00:14:21.159 become a drone layer. So there are all these 00:14:21.159 --> 00:14:23.259 things that you can do on a per -hive basis if 00:14:23.259 --> 00:14:25.679 you have the information and the ability to act. 00:14:26.029 --> 00:14:30.429 So this true part, right, understand and act 00:14:30.429 --> 00:14:33.330 is very, very important. So if we go back to 00:14:33.330 --> 00:14:35.830 this idea of a distributed system, if you can 00:14:35.830 --> 00:14:38.169 only see what's happening but not be out there 00:14:38.169 --> 00:14:41.889 in real time, it's not enough. It's not enough. 00:14:42.309 --> 00:14:44.750 It will let you know, okay, these hives are, 00:14:44.750 --> 00:14:47.029 you know, starving or these hives have lost their 00:14:47.029 --> 00:14:49.850 queen or these hives have been exposed to pesticide 00:14:49.850 --> 00:14:52.730 or whatever. And you might be able to prioritize 00:14:52.730 --> 00:14:55.029 this yard over that yard, but it's only going 00:14:55.029 --> 00:14:58.409 to marginally help. Because when you're losing 00:14:58.409 --> 00:15:01.809 60 % of your hives, it means that all the hives 00:15:01.809 --> 00:15:06.169 are going to face a detrimental challenge throughout 00:15:06.169 --> 00:15:08.929 the year. Most of them aren't actually going 00:15:08.929 --> 00:15:11.490 to make it. Most of them are going to die. But 00:15:11.490 --> 00:15:13.470 some of them are going to be able to save. You 00:15:13.470 --> 00:15:16.330 really want to be able to know what's happening 00:15:16.330 --> 00:15:19.629 early on. When a hive, for example, loses a queen, 00:15:20.169 --> 00:15:23.789 it's very easy to solve within a few days. If 00:15:23.789 --> 00:15:26.009 you let it go for a few weeks, it's too late. 00:15:26.769 --> 00:15:30.169 Same goes for feeding, same goes for mites, same 00:15:30.169 --> 00:15:32.830 goes for really anything that the bees are coping 00:15:32.830 --> 00:15:35.269 with. It's all about timing. So you have to know 00:15:35.269 --> 00:15:38.690 what's going on early on and treat it early on. 00:15:39.190 --> 00:15:41.309 If you're a beekeeper like me, we're getting 00:15:41.309 --> 00:15:44.409 into that favorite time of year, honey harvest. 00:15:44.759 --> 00:15:47.320 but it can be a lot of work. That's where Manned 00:15:47.320 --> 00:15:49.799 Light comes in. They have everything you need 00:15:49.799 --> 00:15:53.200 to make the job easier, cleaner, and more efficient. 00:15:53.549 --> 00:15:57.250 Removal aids, refractometers, uncapping tools, 00:15:57.830 --> 00:16:00.870 extractors, tanks, wax melters, even the jars 00:16:00.870 --> 00:16:03.529 and labels. Plus they have free shipping on glass 00:16:03.529 --> 00:16:06.230 containers. Whether you're a hobbyist with two 00:16:06.230 --> 00:16:09.409 hives or a full -blown commercial operation, 00:16:09.909 --> 00:16:12.210 Man Lake has it all. And don't forget your discount 00:16:12.210 --> 00:16:15.970 code MLBlove10. It's in the show notes. For $10 00:16:15.970 --> 00:16:20.440 off your first $100 purchase. So that was 2018. 00:16:20.559 --> 00:16:24.399 When we came to this understanding of the problem, 00:16:24.659 --> 00:16:27.740 we realized the solution. Again, remote beekeeping. 00:16:28.580 --> 00:16:31.000 And we started working. We raised some money. 00:16:31.899 --> 00:16:34.100 And very quickly, by the end of that year, we 00:16:34.100 --> 00:16:36.519 already had a working prototype out in the field, 00:16:36.759 --> 00:16:39.500 getting feedback from beekeepers that were using 00:16:39.500 --> 00:16:42.059 it and working with it. In an iterative process, 00:16:42.120 --> 00:16:44.759 kind of worked on that until we got to what we 00:16:44.759 --> 00:16:47.389 have today, which is Bee Home 4. we're always 00:16:47.389 --> 00:16:49.590 going to be working on new versions of the Behome. 00:16:49.990 --> 00:16:53.570 But the Behome, in essence, is a device that 00:16:53.570 --> 00:16:58.309 is half hive, half robot, and allows beekeepers 00:16:58.309 --> 00:17:00.730 to not only see what's happening in their hives, 00:17:00.750 --> 00:17:03.690 but actually treat them in real time. So they 00:17:03.690 --> 00:17:06.109 can actually log into their portfolio devices, 00:17:06.890 --> 00:17:08.730 log into the device, see what's happening with 00:17:08.730 --> 00:17:11.430 all the hives. Every device has up to 10 hives 00:17:11.430 --> 00:17:14.430 in it. Some have two, three, four, you know, 00:17:14.490 --> 00:17:18.180 but up to 10 hives. They can see all the frames, 00:17:18.380 --> 00:17:20.720 they can see the brood, they can see how much 00:17:20.720 --> 00:17:23.900 pollen and nectar have been coming in or if the 00:17:23.900 --> 00:17:26.480 hive is now eating their stores, how much is 00:17:26.480 --> 00:17:28.900 left in the hive and how much has been eaten 00:17:28.900 --> 00:17:32.990 over the last couple of weeks. Beekeepers can 00:17:32.990 --> 00:17:35.470 then make decisions on management of the hives, 00:17:35.630 --> 00:17:38.230 whether they want to balance out the yards, balance 00:17:38.230 --> 00:17:41.829 out brood between hives, treat hives for mites, 00:17:41.930 --> 00:17:44.410 feed hives, move the hives to a different location. 00:17:44.450 --> 00:17:46.930 That's obviously done manually, but all the rest, 00:17:47.430 --> 00:17:50.230 treatment, feeding, balancing, that's all done 00:17:50.230 --> 00:17:53.369 through the system. So basically they make decisions 00:17:53.369 --> 00:17:56.990 on the computer and those are carried out by 00:17:56.990 --> 00:18:00.190 the robotic system to the benefit of the bees. 00:18:01.030 --> 00:18:03.650 Without anybody ever going there and opening 00:18:03.650 --> 00:18:08.170 up a box. Well, I wouldn't say ever well Okay, 00:18:08.309 --> 00:18:11.930 wrong word But generally for a situation like 00:18:11.930 --> 00:18:15.809 you just described Okay, I could be sitting in 00:18:15.809 --> 00:18:20.549 Timbuktu somewhere Get on my phone online To 00:18:20.549 --> 00:18:23.130 I assume you've got some kind of an app and I 00:18:23.130 --> 00:18:28.119 can say okay this be home right here has eight 00:18:28.119 --> 00:18:31.140 colonies in it, here's what's going on with three 00:18:31.140 --> 00:18:34.700 of them, here are my options, do this, and then 00:18:34.700 --> 00:18:37.240 it will do that for you. Am I saying that right? 00:18:37.519 --> 00:18:40.640 Correct. Just to give a couple of scenarios of 00:18:40.640 --> 00:18:43.079 what you can do on the app and what's left to 00:18:43.079 --> 00:18:46.500 be done in the field by people. So for example, 00:18:47.059 --> 00:18:49.500 our beekeepers are notified if there's a queenless 00:18:49.500 --> 00:18:52.140 hive. And they can actually log in, they can 00:18:52.140 --> 00:18:54.019 see all the lists with bee homes where there 00:18:54.019 --> 00:18:56.119 are queenless hives, can log in and see the hives 00:18:56.119 --> 00:18:58.859 and determine if those hives have enough material, 00:18:59.259 --> 00:19:02.980 enough bees, enough brood provisions to, you 00:19:02.980 --> 00:19:06.680 know, it's worth reinvesting in that hive. They 00:19:06.680 --> 00:19:10.420 can then actually choose brood frames from other 00:19:10.420 --> 00:19:14.079 hives for the robot to take into those hives. 00:19:14.279 --> 00:19:17.680 So the robot can actually move frames with eggs 00:19:17.680 --> 00:19:21.460 or dail larva from queen right hives into the 00:19:21.460 --> 00:19:24.059 queenless hives and allow those queenless hives 00:19:24.059 --> 00:19:28.140 to grow a self -queen, right? They can also send 00:19:28.140 --> 00:19:32.400 a crew to introduce mated queens if they prefer, 00:19:32.559 --> 00:19:34.640 you know, if they want to keep the specific genetics. 00:19:34.960 --> 00:19:37.500 If they have a team on hand nearby that can get 00:19:37.500 --> 00:19:40.019 there in time, they can also send, you know, 00:19:40.240 --> 00:19:43.190 a mated queen. But suddenly, instead of losing 00:19:43.190 --> 00:19:45.809 20 % of your hives to, you know, to queenless 00:19:45.809 --> 00:19:48.430 hives every year, suddenly you can reduce that 00:19:48.430 --> 00:19:52.369 number to 2 % or 1%. Feeding, there's a syrup 00:19:52.369 --> 00:19:55.569 tank in the device when the hive's in areas where 00:19:55.569 --> 00:19:58.470 we need to supplement feed. Beekeepers can turn 00:19:58.470 --> 00:20:00.789 on the feeding and the hive, the robots will 00:20:00.789 --> 00:20:03.769 actually maintain a full feeder frame inside 00:20:03.769 --> 00:20:07.849 the hives, you know, throughout that period or 00:20:07.849 --> 00:20:09.930 throughout that location until the beekeeper 00:20:09.930 --> 00:20:12.210 turns that off. So these are just a couple of 00:20:12.210 --> 00:20:14.329 examples. What's left to be done in the field 00:20:14.329 --> 00:20:17.130 again is there's the syrup tank, so we have to 00:20:17.130 --> 00:20:20.430 fill it every so often. So we have a team of 00:20:20.430 --> 00:20:24.690 people, the beekeepers send their syrup crews, 00:20:25.190 --> 00:20:27.529 but instead of filling every hive, filling the 00:20:27.529 --> 00:20:29.230 feeder in every hive, all they need to do is 00:20:29.230 --> 00:20:31.549 fill a syrup container. They don't have to be 00:20:31.549 --> 00:20:33.430 experienced beekeepers. They don't have to open 00:20:33.430 --> 00:20:36.769 up the hives. They can just fill a syrup container 00:20:36.769 --> 00:20:38.990 and the robotic system will take care of the 00:20:38.990 --> 00:20:41.859 rest. That's really cool. So for those that are 00:20:41.859 --> 00:20:45.019 listening to the audio version of this and they 00:20:45.019 --> 00:20:47.279 can't see the pictures, I'm going to have you 00:20:47.279 --> 00:20:50.519 in just a second explain what this box looks 00:20:50.519 --> 00:20:53.900 like. For those that are watching on YouTube, 00:20:53.960 --> 00:20:55.980 there's going to be some video so they're seeing 00:20:55.980 --> 00:20:59.339 what you're talking about. So if I've never seen 00:20:59.339 --> 00:21:02.079 this before, help me picture. And by the way, 00:21:02.079 --> 00:21:04.460 I'm looking at your website right now next to 00:21:04.460 --> 00:21:07.380 you, so it's very easy for me to picture. Tell 00:21:07.380 --> 00:21:10.609 me How big is the box? What does it look like? 00:21:11.109 --> 00:21:13.029 Because I don't think you want me to describe 00:21:13.029 --> 00:21:14.829 it. Because to me, it looks like a couple of 00:21:14.829 --> 00:21:18.150 big air conditioner units. But tell me, how would 00:21:18.150 --> 00:21:21.009 you describe it better than that? Beautiful air 00:21:21.009 --> 00:21:23.750 conditioning units. Beautiful. Yes, they are 00:21:23.750 --> 00:21:26.650 beautiful. They have colors on them and stuff. 00:21:27.130 --> 00:21:29.990 Yeah. The unit is about eight feet long, four 00:21:29.990 --> 00:21:32.609 feet high and four feet deep. So that's about 00:21:32.609 --> 00:21:36.150 the footprint of it. Essentially, you know, think 00:21:36.150 --> 00:21:39.690 of a pallet of hives. You know, a pallet has 00:21:39.690 --> 00:21:42.809 four hives on it. So think about this, this has 00:21:42.809 --> 00:21:47.410 up to 10. So I call it a super pallet. And so 00:21:47.410 --> 00:21:49.609 it's like two and a half pallets long, basically. 00:21:49.910 --> 00:21:52.289 And above where the hives are, where the bees 00:21:52.289 --> 00:21:56.589 are, there's an extra space where the robot works. 00:21:56.690 --> 00:21:59.250 So the robot is actually traveling inside the 00:21:59.250 --> 00:22:03.690 unit above the hives, and can go eight feet long 00:22:03.690 --> 00:22:08.180 and four feet deep and access every hive. pull 00:22:08.180 --> 00:22:11.259 out the frames, inspect them, move them around 00:22:11.259 --> 00:22:13.640 if it needs to. So for example, you know, we 00:22:13.640 --> 00:22:15.940 didn't talk about mites, I'm sure we will, but 00:22:15.940 --> 00:22:18.559 we have a heat treatment unit for mites. The 00:22:18.559 --> 00:22:20.880 robot can actually take capped brood frames, 00:22:21.279 --> 00:22:25.079 shake the bees off, put these frames inside a 00:22:25.079 --> 00:22:29.400 heat chamber, and treat the mites with heat without 00:22:29.400 --> 00:22:31.480 affecting the brood, without affecting the bees, 00:22:31.839 --> 00:22:35.339 and put that frame back in the hive after it's 00:22:35.339 --> 00:22:38.440 killed all the mites off using heat treat. Instead 00:22:38.440 --> 00:22:40.900 of chemicals, that's pretty cool. Instead of 00:22:40.900 --> 00:22:43.200 chemicals. Going on with what the device looks 00:22:43.200 --> 00:22:47.279 like, on top we have solar panels. They are doors 00:22:47.279 --> 00:22:49.559 that allow, you know, humans to come and interact 00:22:49.559 --> 00:22:51.700 with the hives. So they're like, like the Tesla 00:22:51.700 --> 00:22:54.599 X model doors that open up what you call those 00:22:54.599 --> 00:22:58.069 kind of wing doors. Yep. So they open up like 00:22:58.069 --> 00:23:00.890 that and people can access the hives or the robot 00:23:00.890 --> 00:23:04.230 for maintenance or for whatever we need. We have 00:23:04.230 --> 00:23:06.549 different colors at the entrance of the hives 00:23:06.549 --> 00:23:09.369 to help the bees navigate back to their own hives. 00:23:09.849 --> 00:23:13.230 So today, you know, usually hives are just painted 00:23:13.230 --> 00:23:17.849 white, but it's well known from the literature 00:23:17.849 --> 00:23:20.690 that different colors actually help bees identify 00:23:20.690 --> 00:23:23.779 their hives better and reduce drift. It also 00:23:23.779 --> 00:23:26.200 looks cool. So we kind of added that layer in 00:23:26.200 --> 00:23:28.099 there. There are different colors above the different 00:23:28.099 --> 00:23:30.500 entrances. It's kind of like a rainbow across 00:23:30.500 --> 00:23:33.839 the lower part. The entrances are also controlled 00:23:33.839 --> 00:23:35.980 by the system. So the system can actually open 00:23:35.980 --> 00:23:38.819 and close the entrances. This is used both for 00:23:38.819 --> 00:23:41.000 transportation. So if we wanted to move hives, 00:23:41.380 --> 00:23:43.559 the system can close down the entrances during 00:23:43.559 --> 00:23:46.359 nighttime. And we can come, we don't have to 00:23:46.359 --> 00:23:48.640 come when it's dark. We can come, you know, seven 00:23:48.640 --> 00:23:50.140 o 'clock, eight o 'clock in the morning, move 00:23:50.140 --> 00:23:54.960 the bees. But it's also used to regulate the 00:23:54.960 --> 00:23:57.380 hive entrance size during different times of 00:23:57.380 --> 00:23:59.880 the year. So when it's cold, the hive entrance 00:23:59.880 --> 00:24:02.740 is reduced. When it's warmer, it makes the hive 00:24:02.740 --> 00:24:05.680 entrance a little bit larger, but also to protect 00:24:05.680 --> 00:24:08.240 them from pesticides. So if we're pollinating 00:24:08.240 --> 00:24:11.279 a crop and we know the farmer or the neighbor 00:24:11.279 --> 00:24:13.099 are going to be applying pesticides, we can actually 00:24:13.099 --> 00:24:16.400 close down the entrances for 24 hours and keep 00:24:16.400 --> 00:24:19.210 the bees safe. and let them go out again once 00:24:19.210 --> 00:24:22.210 it's safe, 24 hours later or 48 hours later, 00:24:22.549 --> 00:24:26.190 go out and continue pollination. That helps protect 00:24:26.190 --> 00:24:29.970 them from pesticides. How do you keep them cool 00:24:29.970 --> 00:24:32.549 in a situation like that? Is there some ventilation? 00:24:34.410 --> 00:24:39.930 The floors have two options in them, either mesh 00:24:39.930 --> 00:24:43.519 or solid. That's actually done manually. So when 00:24:43.519 --> 00:24:45.980 we go when it's warm we're going into pollination 00:24:45.980 --> 00:24:48.299 or into honey production the beekeepers will 00:24:48.299 --> 00:24:50.920 open all the all the bottom boards basically 00:24:50.920 --> 00:24:55.460 to mesh and That that keeps the bees ventilated 00:24:55.460 --> 00:24:58.180 the device itself also knows how to regulate 00:24:58.180 --> 00:25:01.400 the temperature of the device with fans so it's 00:25:01.400 --> 00:25:03.519 never too hot in there I hate to say you've thought 00:25:03.519 --> 00:25:08.799 of everything but You've had a few years to kind 00:25:08.799 --> 00:25:11.440 of think through this obviously and I'm sure 00:25:11.440 --> 00:25:14.039 you've ran into all kinds of issues and the one 00:25:14.039 --> 00:25:17.400 that I am wondering how in the world do you control 00:25:17.400 --> 00:25:19.599 this and that is propolis. It seems like it would 00:25:19.599 --> 00:25:22.960 just gum up your robot and you know, how would 00:25:22.960 --> 00:25:25.420 it work? So what do you do about that? Yeah, 00:25:25.500 --> 00:25:27.940 Propolis was the first thing we looked at when 00:25:27.940 --> 00:25:30.380 we started iterating with the first prototypes. 00:25:30.599 --> 00:25:32.920 I would say very early on, you know, we were, 00:25:32.960 --> 00:25:35.819 we had kind of two options that we were considering, 00:25:36.019 --> 00:25:38.900 two approaches we were considering when it came 00:25:38.900 --> 00:25:42.599 to hive manipulation and inspection. The first 00:25:42.599 --> 00:25:44.480 one was, you know, can we build a system that's 00:25:44.480 --> 00:25:47.920 going to go inside the hive and perform inspection, 00:25:48.359 --> 00:25:52.900 perform procedures? We realized that it's too 00:25:52.900 --> 00:25:57.750 difficult. And the better option was Langstroth 00:25:57.750 --> 00:26:01.450 had already invented the removable frame. It 00:26:01.450 --> 00:26:04.809 already invented the B -space, the modern hive 00:26:04.809 --> 00:26:07.970 that allows us to manipulate the hive by manipulating 00:26:07.970 --> 00:26:11.269 the frames. And we realized that if we wanted 00:26:11.269 --> 00:26:14.509 to be able to carry out all the different beekeeping 00:26:14.509 --> 00:26:18.329 practices that are practiced today, all we really 00:26:18.329 --> 00:26:20.369 needed to do is build a robotic arm that was 00:26:20.369 --> 00:26:24.250 able to extract that frame. If you think about 00:26:24.250 --> 00:26:26.589 all the different practices that beekeepers do 00:26:26.589 --> 00:26:29.170 today, whether it's feeding, whether it's inspecting 00:26:29.170 --> 00:26:31.710 the hives, treating mites, collecting honey, 00:26:32.210 --> 00:26:37.009 it's all done with some sort of form of manipulating 00:26:37.009 --> 00:26:40.750 the frames in the hive. That's the base of beekeeping. 00:26:41.329 --> 00:26:44.529 You know, in other words, if you look at beekeeping 00:26:44.529 --> 00:26:46.990 practices before the invention of lag strath, 00:26:47.170 --> 00:26:48.970 before the invention of the removable frame, 00:26:49.250 --> 00:26:55.079 100 % of the practices were different. So beekeeping 00:26:55.079 --> 00:26:59.440 today is actually a product of the design of 00:26:59.440 --> 00:27:02.480 the modern hive. And if we wanted to be able 00:27:02.480 --> 00:27:06.059 to utilize all these practices with remote beekeeping, 00:27:06.660 --> 00:27:08.500 we wanted to be able to manipulate the frame 00:27:08.500 --> 00:27:11.339 just like people do. So the robotic system doesn't 00:27:11.339 --> 00:27:13.559 actually work inside the hive. All it knows how 00:27:13.559 --> 00:27:15.839 to do is open up the hive and remove a frame. 00:27:16.359 --> 00:27:18.660 So even with propolis, that's not a problem. 00:27:18.759 --> 00:27:22.039 It can... Remove a frame, move a frame. There 00:27:22.039 --> 00:27:24.220 were a lot of problems that we came up against 00:27:24.220 --> 00:27:27.259 in the first couple of years of iterating on 00:27:27.259 --> 00:27:31.200 this ability. But once you solve that, that kind 00:27:31.200 --> 00:27:34.619 of opens up everything else. And a lot of IP 00:27:34.619 --> 00:27:38.000 in the company is around dealing with the properties. 00:27:38.480 --> 00:27:43.779 We have a lot of design principles, I guess, 00:27:44.359 --> 00:27:48.140 on you know, what we're allowed to do when interacting 00:27:48.140 --> 00:27:50.799 with the hive, when designing, if we're designing, 00:27:50.819 --> 00:27:54.660 you know, a special cover for the hive or, you 00:27:54.660 --> 00:27:57.680 know, an adapter for the hive on how to get it 00:27:57.680 --> 00:27:59.799 to work with, you know, with the bees and not 00:27:59.799 --> 00:28:03.160 against the bees and not gum up and stick with 00:28:03.160 --> 00:28:05.900 too much propolis. All right. I've got a ton 00:28:05.900 --> 00:28:08.079 of questions that I just keep writing down here. 00:28:08.480 --> 00:28:12.019 Is this using regular length trough frames inside? 00:28:12.099 --> 00:28:16.309 Yes. Deep frames? Medium frames? Only deep frames. 00:28:16.750 --> 00:28:21.250 Only deep frames. So I could take frames right 00:28:21.250 --> 00:28:23.529 out of a hive that I already have in a wooden 00:28:23.529 --> 00:28:27.549 box and put them right into BeWise. Sorry, BeHome, 00:28:27.569 --> 00:28:30.849 which is actually the product, okay? Do you have 00:28:30.849 --> 00:28:33.269 a whole bunch of these in use already? You know, 00:28:33.450 --> 00:28:36.200 you've proved this concept that it works. So 00:28:36.200 --> 00:28:40.140 today we have about 1 ,200 of them fully in use, 00:28:40.519 --> 00:28:43.839 about 12 ,000 knives or 10 to 12 ,000 knives 00:28:43.839 --> 00:28:48.000 already in the units. How's it going? I don't 00:28:48.000 --> 00:28:51.339 mind asking the hard questions here. Is it working 00:28:51.339 --> 00:28:53.779 as good as you expect? Let me put it that way. 00:28:54.059 --> 00:28:57.319 It's one of those things that is both very difficult 00:28:57.319 --> 00:29:00.259 and very rewarding at the same time. Everything 00:29:00.259 --> 00:29:03.420 we're doing is for the first time. I just went 00:29:03.420 --> 00:29:07.119 out this week. We had a couple of new hires that 00:29:07.119 --> 00:29:10.359 I took down to see one of the yards here in California. 00:29:10.779 --> 00:29:13.640 I told you before about how beekeepers can log 00:29:13.640 --> 00:29:17.160 in and make decisions. Now we're working on, 00:29:17.440 --> 00:29:19.960 can we get the AI to make some of those decisions? 00:29:20.539 --> 00:29:23.420 And we went down to look at a yard where the 00:29:23.420 --> 00:29:25.980 AI is actually managing the balancing for the 00:29:25.980 --> 00:29:28.740 entire yard. So you go out there, it's a B yard. 00:29:29.299 --> 00:29:31.400 It's a large B yard. I know there are a couple 00:29:31.400 --> 00:29:35.400 of hundred hives out there in B homes. And you're 00:29:35.400 --> 00:29:37.740 just listening and you can hear the robots move 00:29:37.740 --> 00:29:42.680 inside the units. So we open up some units to 00:29:42.680 --> 00:29:45.960 see what the robots are doing. They're inspecting. 00:29:45.980 --> 00:29:48.059 They're just doing their thing. They're inspecting 00:29:48.059 --> 00:29:50.940 the hives. Everything is done very, very slowly, 00:29:51.019 --> 00:29:54.440 very, very gently. They're identifying the hives, 00:29:54.579 --> 00:29:57.779 the weaker hives that need extra brood or extra 00:29:57.779 --> 00:30:00.359 honey or pollen. They're identifying the stronger 00:30:00.359 --> 00:30:03.940 hives that can actually donate on an honey or 00:30:03.940 --> 00:30:06.500 brood. And they're making those decisions and 00:30:06.500 --> 00:30:09.720 moving. And we're measuring to see the outcome. 00:30:10.480 --> 00:30:14.680 Is the AI actually able to help the bees better 00:30:14.680 --> 00:30:18.809 than beekeepers, better than humans? So obviously, 00:30:19.029 --> 00:30:21.349 to get to this point, we've already had Beom 00:30:21.349 --> 00:30:24.029 4 out in the field for almost two years. And 00:30:24.029 --> 00:30:25.529 only now we're getting to the point where we're 00:30:25.529 --> 00:30:29.029 working on this feature. So everything is a long 00:30:29.029 --> 00:30:31.710 process to get it to the point where it's working. 00:30:32.390 --> 00:30:34.450 But when it works, when you go out there and 00:30:34.450 --> 00:30:40.029 see this just working, you're making history. 00:30:40.289 --> 00:30:42.309 This is the first time that something like this 00:30:42.309 --> 00:30:44.660 has been done. I think the team and everybody 00:30:44.660 --> 00:30:47.359 we're working with, you know, understands how 00:30:47.359 --> 00:30:50.400 important and big this is. Let's talk honey. 00:30:50.900 --> 00:30:54.500 Are the bees able to make much honey inside these 00:30:54.500 --> 00:30:57.980 hives? And the second part of the question is, 00:30:58.059 --> 00:31:01.900 is it hard to harvest? Yeah. So honey is one 00:31:01.900 --> 00:31:04.299 of those things that is still done manually. 00:31:05.079 --> 00:31:08.759 So again, think of those palettes that I described 00:31:08.759 --> 00:31:11.059 earlier, those super palettes, the bee homes, 00:31:11.539 --> 00:31:14.150 when it comes to time for the honey flow, we 00:31:14.150 --> 00:31:17.450 actually super the hives inside there with regular 00:31:17.450 --> 00:31:20.329 supers. For that time being, for those couple 00:31:20.329 --> 00:31:22.930 of months, six, eight weeks when we have honey 00:31:22.930 --> 00:31:26.470 supers on, the robot is actually disabled. The 00:31:26.470 --> 00:31:28.349 bees are doing their thing collecting the honey 00:31:28.349 --> 00:31:30.670 and then we, you know, collecting the honey is 00:31:30.670 --> 00:31:32.769 just the same as collecting the honey from regular 00:31:32.769 --> 00:31:36.130 hives. That's all done manually. So the robot 00:31:36.130 --> 00:31:40.210 really is there to help you prepare for the season. 00:31:40.519 --> 00:31:43.180 Make sure that all the hives are balanced, are 00:31:43.180 --> 00:31:46.099 treated for mites, are queen right, are ready 00:31:46.099 --> 00:31:49.559 to go, are optimized for honey production. And 00:31:49.559 --> 00:31:52.099 then during the season, it's disabled. After 00:31:52.099 --> 00:31:54.559 you take the supers off, the robot goes in there 00:31:54.559 --> 00:31:57.279 again, makes sure, you know, to find the hives 00:31:57.279 --> 00:32:00.099 that have gone queenless during the honey season, 00:32:00.640 --> 00:32:02.500 find the hives that have gone broodless, have 00:32:02.500 --> 00:32:04.839 plugged out or whatever, start balancing, start 00:32:04.839 --> 00:32:07.740 treating mites right away, then prepare the hives 00:32:07.740 --> 00:32:12.390 for overwintering. So would you leave the hives 00:32:12.390 --> 00:32:16.569 in to be homes over winter? Yeah. Once they go 00:32:16.569 --> 00:32:19.269 in there, there's no reason to take them out. 00:32:19.289 --> 00:32:22.210 Yeah. Might as well. Seems like it makes a lot 00:32:22.210 --> 00:32:25.490 of sense during pollination. I mean, these, um, 00:32:25.569 --> 00:32:27.869 you can lift with a regular forklift, right? 00:32:28.410 --> 00:32:31.349 Put them on a, put them on a truck just like 00:32:31.349 --> 00:32:34.930 you're doing with pallets of hive boxes. Okay. 00:32:35.180 --> 00:32:37.700 So tell me about some of the other research that's 00:32:37.700 --> 00:32:40.440 being done. How is this helping with research, 00:32:40.480 --> 00:32:44.400 for example? Yeah, so first of all, explain the 00:32:44.400 --> 00:32:48.440 main data that we're acquiring on Hives. So there 00:32:48.440 --> 00:32:50.160 are a lot of data points that we're getting. 00:32:50.599 --> 00:32:53.720 We're weighing the frames and we're measuring 00:32:53.720 --> 00:32:57.160 the temperature every day of every frame. But 00:32:57.160 --> 00:33:00.039 the main data points that we're using for our 00:33:00.039 --> 00:33:03.539 system, the unit actually picks out frames and 00:33:03.539 --> 00:33:06.940 takes an image of the frame, a scan, frame scan. 00:33:07.859 --> 00:33:10.900 And then the AI, the machine learning looks at 00:33:10.900 --> 00:33:14.099 the frame and identifies every cell on every 00:33:14.099 --> 00:33:17.400 frame and categorizes it for what it is. If you 00:33:17.400 --> 00:33:20.740 know a little bit about AI, you need a lot of 00:33:20.740 --> 00:33:24.539 data points. So every one of our frame is like 00:33:24.539 --> 00:33:26.880 6 ,000 data points, right? There are about 3 00:33:26.880 --> 00:33:29.880 ,000 cells on each side of the frame. Each one 00:33:29.880 --> 00:33:33.460 can be empty or full of something. It could have 00:33:33.460 --> 00:33:36.119 honey in it. It could have brood. It could be 00:33:36.119 --> 00:33:39.200 drawn out or not drawn out. It could be drone 00:33:39.200 --> 00:33:42.279 brood or regular brood. It could be a queen cell. 00:33:42.720 --> 00:33:46.059 And then all together, the pattern also has additional 00:33:46.059 --> 00:33:49.519 data points, right? Is it spotty brood? Is there 00:33:49.519 --> 00:33:54.539 wax moth in my frame? Is there a pattern of disease? 00:33:54.859 --> 00:33:57.660 What is the queen laying pattern look like? So 00:33:57.660 --> 00:34:01.710 all this information in every frame. And today 00:34:01.710 --> 00:34:06.190 we have tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands 00:34:06.190 --> 00:34:09.309 of these frames, each one containing 6 ,000 data 00:34:09.309 --> 00:34:13.610 points over the course of several years, same 00:34:13.610 --> 00:34:17.070 seasons and thousands of hives. This type of 00:34:17.070 --> 00:34:19.489 data is something that has never imagined trying 00:34:19.489 --> 00:34:23.530 to create this type of data without robotics. 00:34:24.150 --> 00:34:26.900 So that's kind of the background of this. Now 00:34:26.900 --> 00:34:31.119 we're doing different researches. We collaborated 00:34:31.119 --> 00:34:35.619 with UC Davis around pollination, where they 00:34:35.619 --> 00:34:39.219 had a look at bee activity in the bee homes versus 00:34:39.219 --> 00:34:42.920 regular hives during almond pollination. We did 00:34:42.920 --> 00:34:46.800 another activity with Auburn University around 00:34:46.800 --> 00:34:50.820 heat treatment, both with tropylae labs in Thailand 00:34:50.820 --> 00:34:57.630 and with veromites here in California. So I think 00:34:57.630 --> 00:34:59.909 if you're someone that's listening to this and 00:34:59.909 --> 00:35:03.650 you care about bees and you're concerned about 00:35:03.650 --> 00:35:06.929 what we can do as humanity to make sure that 00:35:06.929 --> 00:35:09.409 bees are still here tomorrow, this is something 00:35:09.409 --> 00:35:13.250 that can really help, can really change and help 00:35:13.250 --> 00:35:17.769 us help the bees overcome their challenges. And 00:35:17.769 --> 00:35:20.369 this is why the hobbyists should care about this 00:35:20.369 --> 00:35:24.199 also. Is this ever going to be in the kind of 00:35:24.199 --> 00:35:26.980 production and the kind of price where a sideliner 00:35:26.980 --> 00:35:31.239 might say, Hey, yeah, I need 10 of these things. 00:35:31.840 --> 00:35:34.119 Or is it just makes sense for the really large 00:35:34.119 --> 00:35:37.159 commercial guys? So I think as time progresses, 00:35:37.320 --> 00:35:39.599 we're still out there kind of proving our go 00:35:39.599 --> 00:35:42.639 to market, proving our price point, proving the 00:35:42.639 --> 00:35:44.619 business model, proving the technology, right? 00:35:44.719 --> 00:35:46.940 We're still in that phase. When we get to the 00:35:46.940 --> 00:35:51.510 point where It just makes more sense economically 00:35:51.510 --> 00:35:56.409 to keep bees with a bee home than with a wooden 00:35:56.409 --> 00:35:59.869 box. I think it will almost become, you know, 00:35:59.869 --> 00:36:01.710 that we're always going to have, which is a good 00:36:01.710 --> 00:36:04.550 thing, I think, beekeepers who want to keep bees, 00:36:05.050 --> 00:36:07.829 you know, boutique beekeepers in wooden hives 00:36:07.829 --> 00:36:10.449 or different types of hives. You know, today 00:36:10.449 --> 00:36:13.269 there are thousands of different designs for 00:36:13.269 --> 00:36:15.900 hives and beekeeping. There's only one that's 00:36:15.900 --> 00:36:17.840 ubiquitous with commercial beekeepers, which 00:36:17.840 --> 00:36:20.980 is, you know, the Langstroth hive. But there 00:36:20.980 --> 00:36:23.500 are hundreds of different designs that beekeepers 00:36:23.500 --> 00:36:25.159 can choose and work with, and you're always going 00:36:25.159 --> 00:36:29.360 to have that plethora of options, which is fantastic. 00:36:30.820 --> 00:36:33.780 But for people who are doing this for economic 00:36:33.780 --> 00:36:37.300 reasons, as well as working with bees, I think 00:36:37.300 --> 00:36:39.599 at some point it's just going to become the standard 00:36:39.599 --> 00:36:42.809 way of keeping bees. So it's just like... It 00:36:42.809 --> 00:36:44.750 used to be standard to get from one place to 00:36:44.750 --> 00:36:47.570 the other with a horse and carriage. Today it's 00:36:47.570 --> 00:36:49.730 standard to do it with a car. It's just going 00:36:49.730 --> 00:36:51.750 to be the same, you know. Today it's standard 00:36:51.750 --> 00:36:53.730 to keep bees with a smoker and a hive tool in 00:36:53.730 --> 00:36:56.329 a wooden box. And tomorrow it's going to be standard 00:36:56.329 --> 00:36:58.650 to do it with, you know, with modern technology 00:36:58.650 --> 00:37:00.949 because that's how we do everything. Totally 00:37:00.949 --> 00:37:03.590 makes sense. All right, before I let you go, 00:37:04.170 --> 00:37:06.329 even a high tech person like you has got to have 00:37:06.329 --> 00:37:08.550 some kind of wild and crazy beekeeping story. 00:37:09.050 --> 00:37:12.070 Can you think of one or two? I'll tell a story 00:37:12.070 --> 00:37:16.269 of how I got introduced to bees. This must be 00:37:16.269 --> 00:37:18.469 embarrassing. I can tell the look on your face. 00:37:18.489 --> 00:37:23.190 Go ahead. You wanted something juicy. So I said 00:37:23.190 --> 00:37:24.849 that a friend had asked me to kind of help him 00:37:24.849 --> 00:37:28.110 out with his backyard hives. So the first day 00:37:28.110 --> 00:37:30.889 he called me like it was, hey, I'm going to go 00:37:30.889 --> 00:37:35.510 and get this swarm out of the tree at the campus. 00:37:35.949 --> 00:37:37.699 Do you want to come and help me? I didn't know 00:37:37.699 --> 00:37:39.300 anything about bees at this point. I was like, 00:37:39.400 --> 00:37:42.000 okay. So we go there. I don't know, it's like 00:37:42.000 --> 00:37:45.900 20 feet up in a tree. The campus put up a nesting 00:37:45.900 --> 00:37:48.219 box for some bird or something was screwed to 00:37:48.219 --> 00:37:52.840 the tree and a swarm had gone into that box. 00:37:53.760 --> 00:37:57.340 No birds, just a ton of bees. So I go up the 00:37:57.340 --> 00:38:00.000 ladder and I've got this bee suit on that doesn't 00:38:00.000 --> 00:38:04.099 really fit me. You know, it's short on the legs. 00:38:04.260 --> 00:38:06.519 You know, I'm six feet tall. My friend is... 00:38:07.239 --> 00:38:10.039 Little bit shorter and I you know, it's his suit 00:38:10.039 --> 00:38:12.980 first time first time with bees first time anything 00:38:12.980 --> 00:38:16.420 so I got up there I tried to unhinge the the 00:38:16.420 --> 00:38:20.760 box from the tree and I realized you know, I 00:38:20.760 --> 00:38:22.900 tried to tear it off. It kind of kind of comes 00:38:22.900 --> 00:38:26.579 half off But I realized that it's it's screwed 00:38:26.579 --> 00:38:28.940 to the tree from the inside of the box, which 00:38:28.940 --> 00:38:31.920 is full of bees And this is not a swarm that 00:38:31.920 --> 00:38:34.300 came in yesterday and we can kind of just like 00:38:34.300 --> 00:38:37.920 take out. It's been living there for months probably. 00:38:38.239 --> 00:38:40.300 Anyway, somehow I'm able to kind of detach it 00:38:40.300 --> 00:38:43.480 from the tree just with brute force. And I'm 00:38:43.480 --> 00:38:45.980 carrying it down on my shoulder, down this 20 00:38:45.980 --> 00:38:48.960 -foot ladder. I obviously got stung a ton of 00:38:48.960 --> 00:38:53.179 times. But we got it done. I covered it with 00:38:53.179 --> 00:38:55.340 a net first, you know, to try and keep the bees 00:38:55.340 --> 00:38:57.920 inside and kind of try to seal all the openings. 00:38:58.989 --> 00:39:01.349 Of course, a lot of bees were flying around, 00:39:01.650 --> 00:39:04.369 so it got stung a ton of times. But we got into 00:39:04.369 --> 00:39:08.489 the car, we got into his backyard, got it into 00:39:08.489 --> 00:39:11.969 standard equipment, kind of cut out the comb 00:39:11.969 --> 00:39:15.469 and put it into standard frames. And he already 00:39:15.469 --> 00:39:17.349 had a couple of hives, so this was like a third 00:39:17.349 --> 00:39:20.949 one. It was huge. We had to use like two or three 00:39:20.949 --> 00:39:25.670 different boxes to transfer it into regular hives. 00:39:26.139 --> 00:39:28.000 After that, I was like, okay, what's next? And 00:39:28.000 --> 00:39:30.579 he was like, now we'll keep them alive and see 00:39:30.579 --> 00:39:33.880 if we can make some honey. And that's kind of 00:39:33.880 --> 00:39:36.800 how I got into beekeeping. I need some video 00:39:36.800 --> 00:39:39.000 of you on the ladder trying to carry that thing 00:39:39.000 --> 00:39:42.179 down with your ankles exposed. I'm just picturing 00:39:42.179 --> 00:39:44.440 the whole thing in my mind here. Sounds awesome. 00:39:45.420 --> 00:39:47.920 Yeah. Thankfully there was no, we might have 00:39:47.920 --> 00:39:51.139 some, some photos of it, but there's no video. 00:39:51.639 --> 00:39:55.760 I'll take a photo. Anyway, hey, Elia, I really 00:39:55.760 --> 00:39:58.579 appreciate your time today and looking towards 00:39:58.579 --> 00:40:01.360 the future. It's fun to see what's coming ahead. 00:40:01.960 --> 00:40:04.699 And what we've been using here has been used 00:40:04.699 --> 00:40:08.420 for 200 years or whatever. It's very low tech. 00:40:09.099 --> 00:40:11.619 I have no problem with things changing and getting 00:40:11.619 --> 00:40:15.139 better. So it must be fun to be part of that 00:40:15.139 --> 00:40:18.119 whole process going on. It's a humbling experience 00:40:18.119 --> 00:40:20.780 for sure. Propolis will humble you every time. 00:40:21.119 --> 00:40:25.400 That's right. Thanks for joining us on Be Love 00:40:25.400 --> 00:40:28.579 Beekeeping presented by Man Lake. If you like 00:40:28.579 --> 00:40:30.940 this content I hope you'll share it with a friend, 00:40:31.360 --> 00:40:34.880 follow and subscribe to this podcast, and even 00:40:34.880 --> 00:40:37.159 sign up for our newsletter at BeLoveBeekeeping 00:40:37.159 --> 00:40:40.579 .com Also just a shout out to Vita B Health for 00:40:40.579 --> 00:40:43.800 their support, we appreciate them. Vita's Varroa 00:40:43.800 --> 00:40:47.159 Control range of products includes Apistan, Apagard, 00:40:47.619 --> 00:40:50.960 and now Varroxan, extended release oxalic acid 00:40:50.960 --> 00:40:54.460 strips. Thanks guys, and remember, if you're 00:40:54.460 --> 00:40:57.119 not just in it for the honey or the money, you're 00:40:57.119 --> 00:40:59.440 in it for the love. See you next week.