PollinAIte (PATS Indoor Drone Solutions) is one of the MIT AI projects funded in 2025. PollinAIte is developing an AI system that monitors bumblebee pollination activity in greenhouses and links it to crop management strategies. The project focuses on translating bumblebee behavior into practical insights for growers, so that pollination can be monitored, assessed, and adjusted in a more targeted manner.
Visualizing pollination activity
With PollinAIte, PATS Indoor Drone Solutions is building on its expertise in automated insect monitoring in greenhouse horticulture. PATS develops camera and AI technology that detects, counts, and distinguishes flying insects in the greenhouse based on characteristics such as size, speed, and flight pattern. That same technological foundation is applied within PollinAIte to bumblebees: not to measure pest pressure, but to visualize pollination activity and link it to what is happening in the crop.
Identifying issues earlier and making decisions
The core of PollinAIte lies in automatically recognizing patterns in bumblebee activity and translating them into crop-specific signals. Whereas growers currently often rely on visual inspections, experience, and isolated observations, PollinAIte aims to provide continuous insight into when, where, and how active bumblebees are in the greenhouse. This information can help assess pollination more effectively, identify anomalies earlier, and better inform decisions regarding bumblebee hives, crop management, and climate conditions.
In this way, PollinAIte helps growers view pollination not merely as a necessary process, but as a measurable and controllable factor within their cultivation strategy. By monitoring bumblebee activity using AI and linking it to cultivation decisions, PATS can contribute to more stable fruit set, better crop quality, and more efficient use of labor and biological resources in the greenhouse.
The MIT AI Program funds collaborative R&D projects by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that are using AI to develop a product, process, or service. The call for proposals is part of the AiNed program of the National Growth Fund; AIC4NL coordinates the program, and RVO processes the applications.
