Walmart wants to be more than the biggest retailer in the world, they also want to control the entire supply chain of products, down to the bees that pollinate the fruits and veggies that they sell. Despite the obvious comparison to Black Mirror, Walmart has moved forward and filed a patent for autonomous robotic bees, which they are referring to as pollination drones. If implemented, the drones would carry pollen from plant to plant, and use sensors an cameras to detect crop location. The patent is just one of six filed for the company recently. They have also applied for patents involving farming drones that identify pests and monitor crop health.

There are a couple ways to look at this. On one hand, we could be looking at Walmart coming up with a solution to the current crisis we are having with collapsing bee populations. On the other hand, we could just be looking at the beginning of a fully automated farm to drone delivery approach to the food supply in America.

Source: Science alert