Robotic Bees' Swarm Autonomy

The latest buzz in biomimetic robots is a robotic bee like this one. The BionicBee, produced by the automation-technology company Festo, based in Esslingen am Neckar, Germany, is an order of magnitude bigger than a real bee. For a sense of a BionicBee's size, imagine a bluejay or an oversized hummingbird, albeit one whose wings flap forward and back (closer to the movements of a real bee) rather than up and down. The company says its swarm technology will enable the drone to operate autonomously while it coordinates its flight path with other “bees,” using ultrawideband beacons whose signals let it keep track of its position in space and avoid midair collisions.