If you have questions, please contact Aaron [email protected] +1 780-940-8278
The Calibration period ensures that Meli’s AI produces accurate readings.
Think of this as "teaching" Meli the language of your apiary. While Meli is highly adaptable, every operation is slightly different. Calibration ensures maximum accuracy for the rest of your season. It also helps you audit the performance of the tool before you start to make major decisions informed by it.
Objectives of Calibration
Accuracy: Train the AI model specifically on your hives, equipment, and geography to optimize performance.
Validation: Allow you to audit the technology alongside your traditional methods to see its performance firsthand.
The Calibration Protocol
To complete the calibration, you need to do two things:
Record 400 hives (approximately 15 seconds each)
Validate all 400 of Meli’s predictions for all 3 outputs per hive
Varroa mite levels: verified via alcohol wash or sticky board
Frames of bees (FoB): verified via visual evaluation
Queen status: verified via visual evaluation
How do you validate?
In order to validate Meli’s predictions, you can choose to manually check the hive for all or some outputs:
at the time of recording; OR
some time before/after recording
If validating before/after recording, you must perform a regular hive inspection and input the data in the following time windows. Then, Nectar will automatically match these inspections with the right recordings:
Varroa levels can be entered +/- 10 days from the recording
Frames of bees (FoB) can be entered +/- 2 days from recording
Queen status can be entered +/- 2 days from recording
What You Get
By participating in the calibration period, you're building a tool trained on your bees.
Accurate AI: A version of Meli that understands your specific bees.
Weekly Performance Reports: We will send you updates showing Meli’s accuracy vs. your manual data, so you can watch the improvement in real-time.
Step 1 – Start a Meli Inspection
Open the Nectar mobile app.
Select the yellow + button.
Select Hive Inspection and scan the hive.
Select Record the hive.
Select whether the hive is a single or a double.
Step 2 – Record a Hive Audio Clip
Hold your phone's microphone near the hive entrance.
Tap the Mic button.
Record for 15 seconds.
Step 3 – Review Signal Strength
After recording, Meli will tell you the signal confidence. A medium or low confidence level means that the Audio recording was not good enough for Meli to give the best prediction possible. If Meli has low confidence, you can record the hive again or enter the grading results manually.
Step 4 - Review Results
After recording, Meli automatically analyzes the audio and shows:
Frames of Bees (FoB) – estimate of colony population
Queen Status – queenright or queenless
Varroa Threshold – mite level per 100 bees
Step 4 – Confirm or Challenge Results
Compare the results with your own inspection, and…
If the analysis looks accurate → Tap “Agree” next to each output.
If the results are NOT accurate →tap “Disagree” next to that output and enter your own inspection results. This will override Meli's results in the report.
If you haven’t manually checked the hive for all or some outputs yet → Tap “Disagree” next to those outputs and submit the recording. Then you can enter the actual data later.
Varroa mite levels: +/- 10 days from recording
Frames of bees: +/-2 days from recording
Queen status: +/- 2 days from recording
Verify the data you entered is being submitted on the summary page.
‼️If you plan to record the hive and enter your inspection results at different times, ensure you select 'disagree' when recording the hive. ‼️
For example, if you record a hive with Meli today, and plan to do the varroa inspection tomorrow, select 'disagree' for Meli's varroa output. Then enter the true value the next day through a regular hive inspection with the varroa category.
Step 5 – Stay Updated
New model versions download automatically when you are online.
No manual action is required to update.
If you have questions, please contact Aaron [email protected] +1 780-940-8278