Smart Beehives Installed at Silicon Labs’ Austin HQ

Silicon Labs has installed two smart beehives on the roof of its Austin headquarters, in celebration of Earth Day.

The hives are set to be equipped with sensor technology from Israeli start-up BeeHero, enabling real-time remote monitoring of the colony’s activity and conditions within the hive such as temperature, humidity and noise level. 

This data is then sent to a cloud-based platform for analysis via Bluetooth, allowing beekeepers to track colony behavior and intervene in the instance of a problem. 

BeeHero’s platform was created in response to ongoing threats to bee colonies around the world, which are facing disruptions and damages from climate change and loss of habitat. With the majority of crops relying on pollinators such as bees to achieve high yields, protecting their activity and environment is a growing necessity. 

“With BeeHero, beekeepers … can make more informed decisions on when to feed, treat, or re-queen a hive,” the company said. “For the first time ever, this accurate sensor data means beekeepers can intervene and possibly prevent the collapse of a weakened colony.”

According to Silicon Labs, BeeHero has seen as much as a 30% improvement in yields at commercial beehive sites.