element14 Community announces winners of the Save the Bees Design Challenge

The challenge, which ran from November to April, witnessed impressive participation from individuals passionate about safeguarding the global bee population.

With 1 in 4 species of bees facing the risk of extinction, the Save the Bees Design Challenge encouraged participants to harness the power of the Arduino MKR1310 and Arduino Pro Nicla Vision Boards. These cutting-edge tools empowered the participants to address critical issues plaguing bees worldwide.

“We are immensely proud of the creativity and ingenuity demonstrated by the winners of the Save the Bees Design Challenge. Their remarkable projects not only highlight the power of technology but also emphasize the urgent need to protect our bee populations,” said Dianne Kibbey, Global Head of Community and Social Media for element14. “Through their innovative solutions, these individuals have shown that a collective effort can make a tangible difference in safeguarding the environment. Congratulations to all the winners for their exceptional contributions.”

Of the 25 challengers, two outstanding projects were crowned as winners by the element14 Community team of judges:

• Grand Prize Winner: Ralph Yamamoto – USA – Bee Healthy: Ralph created a LoRa WAN connected IoT Bee Monitor which collects data on a Mocked up bee hive. This project has been trained on the sound of a healthy hive, monitoring the movement within by using the Arduino Nicla Sense and Nicla Vision. The remote node is Solar powered and uses the Things Network for communication.
• Runner Up Prize Winner: Gough Lui – Australia – Bee Watch: Gough created a low power remote Bee Monitoring platform, with an OMRON environmental Shield, an Infrared Time of Flight Sensor, LoRA WAN communication and a light weight MQTT of telemetry. These are incredible blogs with great use of Computer Vision that is trained on the letter B, due to a lack of access to real Bee.

In recognition of the exceptional quality of challenger entries, element14 Community will also be sending prizes to two honorable mention winners:

• Doug Wong – Canada – BeeAInspector
• Nico Te Winkel – Canada – Honey Bee Safe

Winners were selected based on various criteria, including the creative use of their kits to devise effective bee population solutions and the competition of a minimum of five blog posts through the competition.

As part of their well-deserved rewards, the grand prize winner received VIVI Electric Bike for Adults valued at approximately $1,399, along with a $500 donation to a bee charity. The runner-up prize winner was awarded a Segway Ninebot ES1L Electric Kick Scooter valued at approximately $800, accompanied by a $500 donation to a bee charity. Moreover, all challengers received a finisher prize in the form of a Bee Hotel.