Skip site navigation
Maryland Today
Athletics Arts & Culture Campus & Community People Research
Athletics Arts & Culture Campus & Community People Research
Research

How to ‘Bee’ a Robot

AI Research Aims to Provide Backup to Pollinators

The latest buzz at the University of Maryland? Tiny, autonomous drones that harness the power of artificial intelligence to work together.

In this case, the minute robots could one day provide backup to pollinators like honey bees, potentially securing the world’s food crops as these critical insect species face challenges from fungal disease, pesticides and climate change. The project is led by doctoral student Chahat Deep Singh M.E. ’18 of the Perception and Robotics Group, led by Professor Yiannis Aloimonos and Research Scientist Cornelia Fermüller.

In the latest installment of “Enterprise: University of Maryland Research Stories,” robotics researchers show how UMD ingenuity in a key area of computer science could help overcome a looming grand challenge for the world.

Video by Bethany Swain

Related Articles

Research

September 18, 2026
The Edward and Jennifer St. John Center for Translational Engineering and Medicine targets innovation and impact.

Research

September 24, 2026
UMD Research Changes Lives: “Precision agriculture” soil sensors tell farmers when, where and how much to irrigate