Dmitry Mosco, APIZ Software Architect, continues introducing you to innovative development in the beekeeping field - our Beenalytics hardware solution. How will it be used in the field?

We’re going to transform the beekeeper's journal into a digital app since it’s the main tool created 100 years ago and hasn’t been upgraded since then. Our next major step is integrating beenalytics with the beekeeper's digital journal data. Beenalytics is a telemetry and analysis system that we’ll apply not only within the APIZ project. When we get the data of several thousand hives for a single beekeeping season, we can state that we already have enough information for training neural networks and other artificial intelligence apps to analyze this data.

The design

Our top-notch specialists of hardware solutions are engaged in developing beenalytics designs on multifunctional 3D printers in specialized laboratories. Let’s admit it’s rather painstaking work - to put the nano-size elements together; one cannot do it without a microscope. Every single element might consist of 1,000 and sometimes 2,000 parts. In order to avoid possible breakdowns in the future, each assembled structure undergoes repeated testing not only in the laboratory but also on the apiaries.

The structures themselves are designed of several types of plastic with the help of the latest technology. It’s worth mentioning they are quite intuitively designed. We purposefully chose such an approach so that every beekeeper would have had any difficulties while installing or further using the telemetry system.

The main part of the structure, let's call it the “head,” is meant to be installed in a special hole in the hive and transmit all data on temperature, humidity, and sounds inside the beehive. Also, the structure is equipped with four “legs” attached under the hive's base, thanks to which we’ll find out its accurate weight when the need arises. Due to these installation systems, we have a unique chance to monitor the hives' key parameters.  

Beenalytics pros

A reasonable question may arise: what’s the efficiency of beenalytics, and why do we complicate things? First, when the beekeeper lifts the hive cover to check the bee colonies' condition, this violates their life cycle and is perceived as a treacherous hacking attempt. And this is a common consequence of every human interference. The bees are jointly mobilizing their resources to repel the attack, and it takes them at least three days to get out of utter chaos. This factor negatively impacts the entire honey production process because the bees’ efficiency is markedly reduced in these few days.

The APIZ project's main goal is to increase bees' efficiency. So we came up with the idea of ​​creating innovative equipment to minimize the human impact on honey production. This will help to keep the bee’s resources and not waste them in vain.

We also strive to make beenalytics accessible to professionals and amateur beekeepers excited about the idea of having ​​a "smart" hive in their apiaries. By investing in the APIZ project, you help develop and build apiaries around the world. But the most important thing is you make a valuable contribution to the equipment design for every beekeeper.