After two years of work in his free time, a resident of Peigney (Haute-Marne) has managed to develop a system of sensors allowing beekeepers to monitor the activity of their hives without disturbing the bees, reports France 3 Grand Est.

“It all started with a challenge launched by a colleague.

He owned a few beehives and was looking for a way to control what was going on there, ”explained the budding inventor, who is an employee of a company specializing in waste recovery.

His project works thanks to a solar panel connected to sensors placed inside and outside the hive.

“You can measure the temperature and humidity, as well as the weight of the hive.

The weight is a very important data: a sudden variation often means that there is a problem, ”he detailed.

New tools

Thanks to this, beekeepers can view bee activity in real time on a smartphone or computer.

An alert can also be sent directly in the event of a problem.

And all this would not disturb the insects: "I opted for a technology much less violent than 4G […] The technology that I use goes to sleep and is activated once every hour", details the inventor.

While his device already equips five beehives, in the department and in the Lyon region, the computer enthusiast now plans to improve it.

He seeks in particular to determine the precise number of bees present in the hives and to decipher the waves which they broadcast to communicate.

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