I am honestly not sure whether fish have any concept of bees. I am equally unsure whether bees have any concept of fish. I am even more unsure whether bees and fish could be friends, if they knew that the other existed. But thanks to robots, it turns out that the answer is definitely yes. The video really doesn't communicate a whole lot about what's going on here, but the central question is whether robots can usefully mediate communications between groups of very different animals in such a way that long distance interspecies collective behavior becomes possible. The answer appears to be yes, which isn't a total surprise: We've known for a while that robots can communicate with both bees and zebra fish, in the sense that the actions of a robot that mimics the behavior of an animal can, in turn, predictably and interactively alter the animals' behavior.

Dutch scientists have developed robot bees which could help pollinate plants without the use of insects. Researchers at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands believe they may have solved the problem of climate change or pesticides killing off the creatures. The DelFly Nimble's wings beat at 17 times per second to power the robot at speeds over 15 miles per hour (25kph). However, they share an uncanny resemblance to robot bees that are hacked and turned into killing machines in the popular science fiction series Black Mirror. It uses off-the-shelf components, making it cheap to build, and scientists say it could be used in a host of real-world applications.

Jumping robot spiders and swarms of robotic bees sounds like the stuff of science fiction, but researchers at The University of Manchester are already working on such projects and aiming to lead the world in micro robotics. But what will these kinds of robots be used for and is it something we should be worried? Dr Mostafa Nabawy is the Microsystems Research Theme Leader at The University of Manchester's School of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering. He is presenting some of his research, "Spiders Attack: The rise of bioinspired microrobots" at Manchester's Industry 4.0 Summit on Thursday 1 March. Here Dr Nabawy explains why micro robots really aren't anything to worry about and, instead, could be the revolution in robotics that spearheads the next generation in manufacturing technology: 'For our robotic spiders research we are looking at a specific species of jumping spider called Phidippus regius.

It seems like a perfect opportunity for technology to step in and solve problems in the natural world – using tiny helicopter drones to pollinate crops as the number of bees plummets. But amid all the buzz, could this plan for'robot bees' have a sting in the tail? One scientist has suggested the robobees could be taken over by hackers – and turned into killing machines. The robots are under development in both the US and Japan, and it is hoped they could be ready for use within a decade. Under the plans, the drones would wear fuzzy'jackets' that pollen would then stick to, allowing them to pollinate flowers.

An artist's illustration shows how a remote-controlled drone might one day be used to pollinate flowers. Courtesy of Dr. Eijiro Miyako hide caption An artist's illustration shows how a remote-controlled drone might one day be used to pollinate flowers. Near Esparto, in the beautiful Capay Valley region of central California, 1,400 young almond trees flourish in a century-old orchard overlooking the hills. Since November, they've stood in perfect rows without a hint of foliage -- resting, naked and dormant, for the upcoming growing season. Their branches now swell with bright pastel blooms in preparation for pollination. Like most almond growers, Brian Paddock, owner of Capay Hills Orchard, relies on bees to provide this important aspect of crop development.

One day, gardeners might not just hear the buzz of bees among their flowers, but the whirr of robots, too. Scientists in Japan say they've managed to turn an unassuming drone into a remote-controlled pollinator by attaching horsehairs coated with a special, sticky gel to its underbelly. The system, described in the journal Chem, is nowhere near ready to be sent to agricultural fields, but it could help pave the way to developing automated pollination techniques at a time when bee colonies are suffering precipitous declines. In flowering plants, sex often involves a threesome. Flowers looking to get the pollen from their male parts into another bloom's female parts need an envoy to carry it from one to the other.

Given their crucial life in our ecosystem by helping to pollinate flowers, bees are pretty darn important. But with a continuing radical population decline of bees around the world, it may be up to robots to step in and lend a helping hand. That is the mission of an unusual project taking place at Poland's Warsaw University of Technology. For the past four years, researchers there have been working to build robotic bees, called B-Droids, which they hope can carry out some of these tasks. More: Harvard scientists just figured out how to make their robotic bee'perch' on objects to save energy Through various iterations of the project, the robots have grown increasingly sophisticated -- from early wheel-based bots which used computers to find nearby flowers to the latest version, a quadcopter able to move from flower to flower taking pollen samples.