Where AI Hides: Bees, Beer, Sewers, Scrap

Welcome to The Logical Box!

Your guide to making AI work for you.

Hey,

Andrew here from The Logical Box, where I break down AI so it’s easy to understand and even easier to use.

Below are four places nobody expects to find AI.
Each story follows one rule: pick a clear pain point, measure it, and let the data do the heavy lift.

After every story you will see a cross-industry test you can run in any small or midsized business this week.

Let me know how is works out for you!

1. Healthy Hives on Autopilot

Industry: Commercial beekeeping and pollination

Old headache: Varroa mites and foulbrood wipe out colonies before keepers notice, which cuts crop yields.

AI move: BeeHero installs sensor frames that log sound, temperature, and humidity every five minutes. Edge AI flags stress, then a cloud model ranks risk and sends a text alert while there is still time to treat the hive. (See UCR News.)

Result: Keepers report about one-third fewer colony losses in 2023 (≈ 629 million bees saved) and stronger almond pollination. (BeeHero case data.)

Your test (works in any shop)
Mount a $5 USB or Raspberry Pi mic near one key motor such as an HVAC blower or label printer. Record two days of “healthy” noise, then train a free anomaly-detection model in Edge Impulse or IBM Maximo. When bearings start to squeal you receive a push alert and can schedule a ten-minute fix instead of paying for overtime after a surprise breakdown.

2. “Poop Drones” Keep Pipes Open

Industry: Utilities and asset-heavy facilities

Old headache: Crawl-through sewer inspections are slow, dangerous, and cost about $1 million per full cycle.

AI move: Macomb County replaced boots with caged drones that record LiDAR video. SewerAI scans footage and spots cracks within hours. (Reported by WIRED.)

Result: Leaders cut inspection spend by ≈ 40 percent, repair defects sooner, and earned a safety award.

Your test (works in any plant or warehouse)
Use a DJI Mini or even a phone on a painter’s pole to photograph roof seams, rack welds, or perimeter fencing. Upload thirty images to Roboflow or Google Vertex Vision, label rust and cracks, and let the model tag new defects each month. You reduce ladder time, lower fall risk, and catch repairs weeks sooner for the cost of a hobby drone and one hour of labeling.

3. A Better Brew Every Batch

Industry: Craft brewing and food processing

Old headache: Small temperature drift stretches fermentation and wastes water, which hurts flavor and brand consistency.

AI move: Breweries such as Deschutes add Bluetooth hydrometers, pH probes, and cloud dashboards. A reinforcement-learning model predicts gravity and automates cooling so tanks free up sooner. (See coverage in Beer & Brewing.)

Result: Early runs cut total fermentation time by up to 206 hours per line (≈ 30 percent) and saved ≈ 15 percent water.

Your test (works in any repeatable process)
Place a $40 Wi-Fi temperature sensor in a walk-in fridge, chemical store, or server closet. Stream readings to Google Sheets, then set a Zapier rule: if temperature drifts 2 °F beyond your range, toggle a smart plug that adds cooling or triggers an exhaust fan. You catch cooling failures overnight, hold product quality, and can show energy-use logs when the utility bill drops.

4. Turning Scrap into Cash

Industry: Metals recycling and light manufacturing

Old headache: Mis-sorted alloys cut resale price and create extra truck runs; staff climb bins to check fill levels.

AI move: Proler Industries installed Compology cameras above scrap bins. Vision AI reads alloy fingerprints, tracks real-time fill, and routes each piece to the correct container. (Details in Waste 360.)

Result: The Houston yard lowered operating costs by ≈ 25 percent, reduced empty truck pickups, and invoiced faster.

Your test (works in any shipping or QC line)
Secure an unused smartphone above your busiest parts bin or parcel chute. Take fifty photos that show empty, mid, and full states, then train a free Azure Custom Vision classifier. A two-line Power Automate flow emails purchasing when “Full” reaches 85 percent. You prevent emergency reorders and pull fewer staff off the line to eyeball stock. The same rig can confirm label color or check that fragile goods stay upright.

Wrap-up

• Pick one quiet corner of your workflow.

• Surface the data hiding there: sound, images, timestamps.

• Run a one-week test from the list above.

• Watch one metric: time saved, mistakes caught, or dollars kept.
  

That single win builds proof, confidence, and momentum for your next AI move.

Want to take the next step?

I work alongside businesses to develop AI skills and systems that stay with you. Rather than just building prompts, I help your team become confident AI users who can solve real problems and no more starting from zero each time.

If you are ready for some guidance to get you or your team truly comfortable with AI tools, reach out to Andrew on LinkedIn and let's talk about what is possible.

Thanks for reading,

Andrew Keener
Founder of Keen Alliance & Your Guide at The Logical Box