NOS announced the launch of “AI-belha”, a solution based on 5G and artificial intelligence (AI) that aims to monitor and evaluate the health of hives through sound.
The pilot project originated at NOS Inovação and aims to be “a direct response to the worrying decline of pollinators in Portugal”. In a press release, the telecommunications operator states that the solution will begin the testing phase in a real environment, with the support of national beekeepers.
“AI-bee” is an evolution of the “Entusiasmometer”, a tool launched at NOS Alive, which measures the enthusiasm and emotion of audiences at shows and which is now applied to combat the decline of bees in national territory.
In this sense, the operator explains that “a new development of the same pioneering sound analysis technology, supported by artificial intelligence, will now be used to detect the presence of the queen bee and evaluate the health and behavior of the hives, a vital process for the reproduction of bees, the main pollinators of the ecosystem”.
To do this, beekeepers “simply have to bring their 5G smartphone closer to the hive and collect the sound emitted by the bees, just as if it were a telephone call”, explains the operator.
Then, the collected audio is sent, in real time, to a server in the cloud, where, through AI, the different types of noise are analyzed. “The result will be the identification of the presence or absence of the queen bee through the sound emitted by the bees, as well as the detection of other sound patterns that may indicate negative signs in the health of the hive”, says the company.
“It is part of NOS’ commitment to bring together innovation and technology to respond to the challenges and needs of people and the planet. In this case, this is a vital topic for human survival, taking into account that bees are essential to agriculture and life on the planet, but are disappearing at an alarming rate around the world”, said João Ferreira, Director from NOS Innovation.
