China’s internet giant Alibaba on Wednesday unveiled an AI beekeeping system, which the company said could help the country’s 300,000 bee-keepers increase their honey production by 20%, 36Kr reported.
The announcement came during Alibaba’s yearly Apsara Conference, and was jointly released by Alibaba Digital Agriculture Division and Alibaba Cloud.
‘Ali AI beekeeping system’ can monitor as well as automatically adjust the temperature and humidity of bee hives. In addition to this, the system can also keep an eye on the number of bees that go out and track how many of them return to their hives each day. This system’s GPS and BeiDou positioning systems can alarm beekeepers if their hives are moved by others to avoid theft or other demages.
Currently, China’s beekeeping industry is labor-intensive as beekeepers take care of their bees all by themselves to make sure bees’ safety and health. Another recurring problem beekeepers face is managing multiple hives and ensuring each hive is close to equal and abundant supply of flowers.
China’s internet companies are stepping into the country’s traditional agricultural industry. Alibaba and JD.com have both advanced to apply their various AI technologies to upgrade the country’s pig raising industry, KrASIA reported in August.
36Kr is KrASIA’s parent company.
