Development of a robotic arm for non-invasive inspection and interaction with bees in an advanced technological beehive

The field of Animal Robot Interaction (ARI) represents one of the most rapidly evolving areas within bio-robotics. This interdisciplinary domain merges robotics, biotechnology, mechanics, electronics, and materials science to bridge the gap between the animal and artificial worlds. Within this framework, this master's thesis presents the development of a robotic arm designed to operate within a smart beehive. The work is part of the European SENSORBEES project, which employs bees as biological sensors to monitor and map biodiversity. This work investigates the biosensing potential of bees, introducing an innovative approach that extends this current underexplored state of the art in ARI. By exploiting their natural pollination and foraging behaviors, bees provide valuable insights into ecosystem health and biodiversity, making them ideal model organisms for biohybrid interaction studies. The purpose of this work was not to perform biological manipulations but to develop the underlying robotic platform that will enable them. The proposed arm serves as the mechanical and control foundation for future systems capable of non-invasive interactions with bees through specialized end-effectors and bio-inspired communication cues. A compact robotic arm based on a scissor mechanism was designed to meet the spatial constraints of a smart beehive. Mechanical modelling was carried out using CAD tools, while the electronic and control architecture were developed within a modular engineering framework and integrated into a ROS 2 based control framework. Prototype components were fabricated through laser cutting and 3D printing, then assembled and experimentally tested to evaluate accuracy, repeatability, and response time. Experimental results demonstrate that the robotic arm achieved stable and precise motion throughout its entire workspace. The manipulator reached an average positioning accuracy of ± 0.8 mm and a repeatability of ± 1.3 mm within the workspace of 400 mm x 200 mm. Integration with another external system enabled closed-loop position control, resulting in improved accuracy. These movements can be performed at adjustable speeds, ranging from 15 mm/sec to 50 mm/sec, and the system exhibits a rapid response time in the range of 50 milliseconds. These results validate the proposed mechanical and control design, confirming the feasibility of non-invasive operation in confined biological environments. This thesis establishes a compact and modular mechatronic foundation for future ARI systems in beehives, enabling the integration of interchangeable end-effectors and bioinspired communication interfaces. Future developments will focus on implementing an interchangeable end effector to increase versatility and reduce costs, alongside a chitosan-based coating aimed at improving safety and mimicking biological properties. This will also allow the system to be tested on a real hive, ensuring more reliable results. In a broader perspective, this platform promotes precise, non-invasive interaction between artificial and living systems, laying the foundation for a novel symbiotic approach to environmental conservation. Crucially, the final system will enable long-term autonomous monitoring with minimal human intervention and is highly scalable. This allows deployment of numerous low-impact monitoring stations that support large-scale biodiversity surveillance, reduce disturbance to natural habitats, and directly advance both research and practical applications in bio-robotics for conservation.