Raspberry Pi used to count bees — Brazilian researchers use a Pi Zero 2 W and some AI to help keep hives healthy

By: Ash Hill

What’s the buzz? This bee counting Pi project, that’s what.

(Image credit: José Alberto Ferreira Filho, José Anderson Reis)

Researchers at the Federal University of Itajuba in Brazil, including professor José Alberto Ferreira Filho and master’s degree student José Anderson Reis, have put together an excellent summer Raspberry Pi project that aims to help support local bee populations. It’s important when running an apiary to keep track of your bees, but counting them can be incredibly tedious—that’s why they’ve put together this great Raspberry Pi-powered bee counter they call BuzzTech.

The way it works is fairly straightforward, but it’s far from simple when you look at the software side of the project. A camera is positioned facing toward the entrance to the hive and is connected to a Raspberry Pi, which implements an AI-powered system to keep track of how many bees are in the frame. This makes it possible to not just monitor the bees in real-time, but also track them over time.