BeeCam-AprilTag: timing the flight duration of individual honey bees in remote field settings with AprilTag and Raspberry Pi.

Sarabeth Brandt, Diego Penaloza-Aponte, Robyn M Underwood, Selina Bruckner, Benedict DeMoras, Margarita M López-Uribe, Julio Urbina

Abstract read

PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher

In one paragraph

Article in MethodsX, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it

0cells of the map it votes in

0citing papers in PubMed

–field-weighted citation impact

1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors.

Sarabeth BrandtSchool of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, 16802, PA, USA.

Diego Penaloza-AponteSchool of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, 16802, PA, USA.

Robyn M UnderwoodDepartment of Entomology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, 16802, PA, USA.

Selina BrucknerDepartment of Entomology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, 16802, PA, USA.

Benedict DeMorasDepartment of Entomology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA.

Margarita M López-UribeDepartment of Entomology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, 16802, PA, USA.

Julio UrbinaSchool of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, 16802, PA, USA.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Understanding the behavior of social species that function as superorganisms requires first examining the behavior of individual members of the colony. We have developed a Raspberry Pi (RPi) and AprilTag-based camera system to record the trip durations of individual honey bees as they exit and re-enter the hive, enabling data collection of hundreds of individuals simultaneously in the context of their environment. This article details the real-time image processing capabilities of our system and the post-processing methods used to determine trip durations. AprilTag detections are collected in real-time as lines in a text file. The trip durations are obtained through a post-processing method that leverages observed honey bee behavior at the hive entrance to identify exits from and re-entries into the hive. For each AprilTag ID, detections are grouped into events. Trips are identified as consecutive "exit" and "enter" events.

Indexed as

Convergence researchData processingFiducial tagsInsect pollinatorsOpen sourceRaspberry PiRemote sensing

Identifiers

PMID41031183

DOI10.1016/j.mex.2025.103624

PMCPMC12478047

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata

LicenceCC BY

Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.