Why tiny flying robots could be the answer to Europe's bee crisis 

It sounds like the stuff of science fiction: tiny robots buzzing around greenhouses and pollinating flowers in a future where climate change has wrecked the environment and bees have been driven to extinction. 

But Dutch scientists have already laid plans to cope with this grim scenario by building insect-like drones with wings inspired by fruit flies.

Researchers at Delft University of Technology said their DelFly drone, which weighs just 29 grams, could soon be used to scan for survivors in earthquake-hit zones, monitor stocks in warehouses and even replace bees in greenhouses.

Bees are responsible for pollinating 80 per cent of edible crops grown in the Netherlands but are increasingly under threat from pesticides, which experts warn could eventually wipe out all 360 species.

The Netherlands is one of the world's largest exporters of food and agricultural products, with many firms cultivating plants and vegetables in enormous greenhouses. 

"It's a very futuristic solution with a number of uses," Matěj Karásek, a researcher at Delft University's Micro Air Vehicle laboratory, told the Telegraph as he flew the drone around the university's robotics laboratory. 

"The bee is under threat due to our farming methods and we don't know what their future will be," he added.

"The goal is to have a device that could pollinate flowers as it may be that bees will die out...if you can imagine a swarm of these robots flying around a warehouse or greenhouse, they would very safe to work around as they are so small and light."

Mr  Karásek said he hoped to eventually mass produce the DelFly so it could be used worldwide.

The Delfly has four wings, each roughly the size of a palm, which mimic the movements of fruit flies. The wings beat 17 times per second, lifting it into the air and then controlling its flight through small adjustments in wing motion.

Much like drones, which are already being tested by Amazon as a means of delivering packages, the tiny robot is operated by remote control and can even perform 360-degree spins.

Mr Karásek was offering a demonstration of his drone at the university's newly opened Robohouse, which is designed to bring together the finest minds in Dutch engineering.