Harvard University researchers led by engineering professor Robert Wood have introduced the first RoboBees—bee-sized robots that can ascend and hover in midair while tethered to a power supply.

The project is a breakthrough in the field of micro-aerial vehicles. It has previously been impossible to pack all the components onto such a tiny workable robot framework and keep it lightweight enough to fly. The researchers believe that within 10 years, RoboBees could artificially pollinate a field of crops, a critical development if the commercial pollination industry cannot recover from the severe bee losses of the past decade.