Walmart Future Food: Pollinated by Bee Drones

We've all seen the headlines about bee colonies in decline.

Walmart has an answer for that: Bee swarms made up of tiny drones. And the company has just filed a patent request for its concept.

Walmart patent application for bee drones

According to Walmart's patent application, each drone would have "at least one pollen applicator configured to collect polled from the flower of the first crop onto a flower of the second crop, and, at least one sensor configured to detect presence of the pollen applied to the flower of the second crop."

The sensor would verify that pollination had actually occurred.

Another sensor would track the speed and direction of the wind.

And the link between nature and man-made bees would run through the cloud. But you guessed that part, right?

When are Walmart bee drones likely to do their best work? On sunny days, apparently, because the company says the devices may have a solar panel to extend batter life for more flight time.

Is this is a case of adapting to your environment or just messing with it? What do you think?