Usually, in cases, we describe our experience in providing services to our customers - from the problem and formulation of the task to the implementation and the results obtained, but the history of the creation and development of our own i-bee product is so interesting that we could not ignore it in this section

At the time we started working on the project (2018), we had been thinking about developing an IoT solution in some interesting and new field for a long time - we were looking for a new niche where we could apply our knowledge in the Internet of Things, engineering, and mobile application development. When the idea appeared to create special devices for remote monitoring of the condition of beehives, we decided to first validate it with experienced beekeepers. So, with the help of friends, we were introduced to Grandfather Vasyl - one of the most outstanding figures among beekeepers of Ukraine, who gave us the opportunity to present our idea at his regular convention, the Bee Circle, which is always attended by top beekeepers of our country. We received a lot of positive feedback, which automatically prompted us to start investing in the project

Right from the beginning of our research, we understood which control parameters are important for beekeepers - these are weight and daily weight gain, as well as temperature and humidity inside the hive. Sound was also of interest, but few understood how to interpret it in software to make it a useful parameter. In any case, the main task of the i-bee system (by the way, the naming and branding were also developed by our team) was to provide beekeepers with a tool in the form of a mobile application to remotely monitor the state of the hive, even if it is in the apiary, because disturbing the bees unnecessarily does not contribute to their productive work. We designed and developed scales (first wired, and then with the use of BLE and autonomous power), autonomous devices for measuring temperature, humidity and the sound spectrum inside the hive (a little later, a motion sensor and an optical sensor for opening the lid also appeared - as security functions) and a base station that is installed 1 in the apiary and can receive data from more than 1000 hives in a radius of up to 1500 meters depending on the terrain. Of course, server software, iOS and Android mobile applications were developed in parallel, in which additional functions appeared - weather forecast for the apiary, a beekeeper's diary for keeping records, a chat with technical support, etc. Before the release of the industrial batch, many pilot projects and tests in real conditions took place, each of which brought new ideas and feedback from customers

During 4 years of work on the project, we were able to create a unique system, which, according to clients and partners, had no analogues. We conducted successful pilot projects and implemented solutions in the Kernel agricultural holding, where we participated in the pollination project. The result of cooperation in this project with the Brotherhood of Beekeepers of Ukraine was the development of a sensor on the fly, which allows you to count the departure and return of bees, thus monitoring the daily departure of bees and flight activity during the day. Together with the Oracle company, we participated in the project to control the migration of wild bees in the largest state reserve in Poland - Lasy Państwowe.
By the beginning of 2022, we had about 500 users of the system in Ukraine, Poland, Moldova, and Germany. A large part of Ukrainian clients suffered greatly from russian aggression, because most of our clients were located in the South and East of Ukraine. The war also affected our production due to the crisis with components and logistical problems, so at the beginning of autumn 2022 the project is in the restart stage. We are sure that i-bee will return in the near future, and the main recognition of our success is the appearance of new Ukrainian and foreign startups that try to repeat our decision