--- title: The Bee Drone description: How much technology would it take to replace a bee? That's the question industrial-design student Anna Haldewang aims to answer with Plan Bee, a hand-size... canonical: https://time.com/4703305/the-bee-drone/ author: Julia Zorthian article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-03-16T10:16:31.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T03:52:03.717Z article:section: Science og:title: The Bee Drone og:description: How much technology would it take to replace a bee? That's the question industrial-design student Anna Haldewang aims to answer with Plan Bee, a hand-size... og:url: https://time.com/4703305/the-bee-drone/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Bee Drone twitter:description: How much technology would it take to replace a bee? That's the question industrial-design student Anna Haldewang aims to answer with Plan Bee, a hand-size... twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # The Bee Drone > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. 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Future Proof is TIME's weekly climate and energy newsletter, written by senior correspondent Justin Worland. It connects the energy transition to the decisions reshaping business, technology, policy and markets. #### Where can I follow the energy transition as a business story? Future Proof covers climate and energy as an economic and business story rather than only an environmental one. It publishes every Friday and is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who writes Future Proof? Justin Worland, a senior correspondent at TIME and an award-winning climate journalist, writes Future Proof. #### Is Future Proof free? Yes. Future Proof is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Julia Zorthian](https://time.com/author/julia-zorthian/)  ## Julia Zorthian Mar 16, 2017 10:16 AM UTC  by [Julia Zorthian](https://time.com/author/julia-zorthian/)  ## Julia Zorthian Mar 16, 2017 10:16 AM UTC How much technology would it take to replace a bee? That’s the question industrial-design student Anna Haldewang aims to answer with Plan Bee, a hand-size drone that detects flowers with an ultraviolet camera, then uses a suction mechanism to suck pollen from one plant and blow it into another. For now, the product prototype–which won’t hit the market for at least two years–is meant to help people understand how bees pollinate, says Haldewang, adding that she has no plans to “take over the bee population.” But similar technology may soon be necessary on a larger scale, as pesticides and climate change threaten the future of bee colonies around the world–and, by extension, the crops they pollinate. 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