I was selected as one of the many (24) challengers in the Save the Bees - Design Challenge. While waiting for the hardware kit Arduino Pro Nicla Vision board + MKR1310, I thought I'd review my project proposal.
An excerpt from my application:
"My project is focused on early detection of problems in the beehive using an ML model of sounds that are made by the bees. Bee keepers have learned to identify the condition of the bees by the noises that they make and can detect whether they are agitated, angry, hungry, calm, etc... The sooner a problem can be detected, the sooner it can be fixed - sort of a preventive maintenance."
From a practical standpoint, I don't currently have a bee hive or direct access to one and it is currently winter in Oregon - so the ML model will be built using bee hive sounds gleaned from the internet. Model testing would also be done with internet data. That being said, I would really like to build something that I could try out this summer with an actual bee hive. The data on the internet is primarily for honey bees, so I'm looking into building and populating a small honey bee hive after the challenge.
I read with interest Gough Lui's first BeeWatch post and realized that because of the nature of the challenge and the hardware kit, that many of our projects are going to be very similar. I also have a LoRaWAN gateway and will be using the Things Stack and MQTT for messaging and NodeRed for monitoring. I am going to use Edge Impulse to build and deploy the ML model. I am also going to a small solar panel and USB power bank to make the setup portable.
In addition to the Nicla Vision and MKR WAN 1310, I'm going to add a Nicla Sense ME to monitor the environmental conditions within the hive (temperature, humidity, VOC).
I recently purchased The BeeKeeper's Handbook and hopefully will learn what I need to build a bee hive.
Looking forward to seeing all the projects. Hope that we can make a positive impact 
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