Innovative Laser Mosquito Zapper Created by Russian Scientist Using Raspberry Pi

Reported by Machine Heart

Editor: Zhang Qian

A Russian PhD has created a “laser mosquito cannon” using a Raspberry Pi. Can it really hit them?

Innovative Laser Mosquito Zapper Created by Russian Scientist Using Raspberry Pi

Mosquitoes, these tiny creatures, are extremely annoying. Although humans have invented various mosquito repellent tools such as electric mosquito coils and mosquito lamps, the nuisance of mosquitoes to humans remains ever-present — “unshakable”.

Perhaps the annoying mosquitoes have irritated “hardcore” researchers, prompting them to start their unique mosquito eradication efforts. Recently, Ildar Rakhmatulin, a PhD from South Ural State University in Russia, created a Raspberry Pi machine that uses computer vision and machine learning technology to automatically detect mosquitoes and burn them with lasers.

Specifically, the machine is built on a Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+ and is equipped with a dedicated camera module featuring a Sony IMX219 image sensor, a current meter, and a 1W power laser, as shown in the prototype below:

Innovative Laser Mosquito Zapper Created by Russian Scientist Using Raspberry Pi

1: Camera; 2: Current meter; 3: Raspberry Pi 3; 4: Laser rangefinder; 5: Laser; 6: Power supply; 7: Motor driver; 8: Electronic signal processing board; 9: Mosquito box.

Ildar Rakhmatulin states that his idea actually came from an American astrophysicist — Lowell Wood, who proposed using lasers to control mosquito populations (such as malaria-carrying mosquitoes) back in the 1980s. However, due to the complexity of the technology, this idea was never put into practice. With the development of computer vision and machine learning technologies, Ildar Rakhmatulin seems to have found a new direction.

Innovative Laser Mosquito Zapper Created by Russian Scientist Using Raspberry Pi

Paper link: https://www.preprints.org/manuscript/202101.0412/v1

Unfortunately, Ildar Rakhmatulin did not record a video of using the laser to kill mosquitoes, but uploaded a video of adjusting the laser current meter (galvanometer adjusting), as shown below:

Rakhmatulin states that the benefits of this laser mosquito system include: 1) It can be used outdoors, unaffected by wind; 2) It creates a safe area free from mosquito intrusion for people inside or outdoor travelers; 3) If improved, it could have a large coverage area; 4) It can be used mobile. These advantages could be very significant for areas plagued by mosquito-borne diseases.

Of course, this machine is not just for killing mosquitoes. Ildar Rakhmatulin mentions in his paper that it can be used as part of a drone, targeting any pests. To prove this claim, he also provided specific implementation suggestions in the paper.

How does the laser kill mosquitoes?

The workflow of this laser mosquito system is shown in the diagram below. First, the camera and the built-in algorithm determine the position of the mosquito and calculate its coordinates, which are then passed to the current meter. Before firing, the current meter can use mirrors to change the direction of the laser to aim at the mosquito. After the laser fires, if the mosquito is hit, the system will initiate a new round of work; if not, the system will recalculate the mosquito’s coordinates and attempt to strike again. Considering the variability in mosquito flight paths, the researchers also analyzed various factors affecting mosquito flight (such as odor, wind speed, etc.) and listed a formula for predicting mosquito trajectories.

Innovative Laser Mosquito Zapper Created by Russian Scientist Using Raspberry Pi

This process seems simple, but it is quite challenging to implement, especially for effectively detecting and tracking such small insects as mosquitoes.

During the real-time detection phase, the author considered using a pre-trained deep learning model on the Raspberry Pi, but due to the limited memory and processing speed of the Raspberry Pi, this idea had to be abandoned. SqueezeNet could reduce model weights to 5MB, but processing images took 1 second; R-CNN, Faster R-CNN, Yolo, and RetinaNet all faced similar issues. Therefore, the author had to find a method that could be deployed on the Raspberry Pi. Ultimately, he opted for the target tracking functions in OpenCV.

Compared to detection, target tracking is faster. Diagram 1 shows several different mosquito tracking methods (the TrackerCSRT function performs particularly well).

Innovative Laser Mosquito Zapper Created by Russian Scientist Using Raspberry Pi

Performance of several methods in the experiments is shown in the diagrams below:

Innovative Laser Mosquito Zapper Created by Russian Scientist Using Raspberry Pi

As can be seen, the best method only achieved a success rate of 76% in tracking. However, the author states that this is just a small attempt, primarily to demonstrate the feasibility of using lasers to kill mosquitoes. If it were to be deployed on drones or other devices, the entire system would need upgrades from hardware to software.

Is using lasers to kill mosquitoes reliable?

As Ildar Rakhmatulin mentioned, the idea of using lasers to kill mosquitoes is not original to him; it has been proposed decades ago, and those who suggested it have not given up.

This person is Lowell Wood, who assisted in designing the laser shield during the Cold War to protect the U.S. from Soviet missile attacks in the 1980s. Later, he joined Intellectual Ventures, a company founded by former Microsoft engineer Nathan Myhrvold. Intellectual Ventures is a controversial company that has stockpiled tens of thousands of patents through purchases and other means, charging fees to those who use these patents, and sometimes even filing lawsuits (some refer to it as a patent troll).

In 2010, Intellectual Ventures launched the laser mosquito machine designed by Lowell Wood — the Photonic Fence, primarily aimed at killing malaria-carrying mosquitoes to eliminate malaria.

Innovative Laser Mosquito Zapper Created by Russian Scientist Using Raspberry Pi

This machine uses infrared LED lights and reflectors to create a mosquito-killing area, monitored by charge-coupled devices used in digital cameras. Once a mosquito is detected entering this area, the laser cannon fires a non-lethal detection laser to assess the size and wingbeat frequency of the mosquito. The specially designed software in the device can identify the mosquito based on the information collected by the detection laser, ultimately determining its species and even gender, as different species and genders of mosquitoes have different wingbeat frequencies. Once the software identifies a target, it conducts a safety check to ensure there are no obstacles in front of the target before firing the attack laser to take down the mosquito.

Innovative Laser Mosquito Zapper Created by Russian Scientist Using Raspberry Pi

In February 2010, Myhrvold demonstrated this device at a TED conference. That same year, Time magazine named it one of the best inventions of 2010, alongside Apple’s iPad.

Coincidentally, a domestic startup also promoted a similar technology a few years ago, claiming it could use laser radar technology to locate mosquitoes and fire lasers to kill them. Reportedly, the mosquito-killing device mainly utilized a fusion of two types of laser radar technology. Indoors, it primarily used laser radar developed based on triangulation principles for navigation and positioning, while outdoors, it employed time-of-flight (TOF) laser radar for long-distance detection. This product can detect, identify, dynamically track, lock onto, and continuously strike small targets such as mosquitoes and flies from complex environmental backgrounds. To avoid harm to human eyes, the company also stated it would add a facial recognition device to the equipment.

Innovative Laser Mosquito Zapper Created by Russian Scientist Using Raspberry Pi

Unfortunately, many years have passed, and neither of the “laser mosquito cannons” has successfully entered the public eye.

Over the past decade, many people have repeatedly asked in the comments section of Intellectual Ventures’ YouTube videos for updates, but have received no responses.

Innovative Laser Mosquito Zapper Created by Russian Scientist Using Raspberry Pi

In 2017, a reporter from American media “Intelligencer” visited the Intellectual Ventures laboratory and met Myhrvold. Myhrvold stated, “Many people will look at this technology,” but no one has truly decided to invest. After all, making this thing is quite challenging. Researchers have spent years figuring out how to continuously track and identify a specific type of insect and then safely and effectively eliminate it. Most importantly, no one has been able to bring the cost of this device down to an affordable level for ordinary people, especially in areas where malaria-carrying mosquitoes are rampant.

“One possibility is to sell it to the Pentagon,” Myhrvold said, “They send people to areas plagued by malaria, and they are no longer willing to spray insecticides on everyone.”

Another possibility is to change its use to increase commercial value, such as targeting “grape root aphids” to help vineyards increase yields.

Myhrvold also mentioned that he wanted to install this device on drones to kill swarms of locusts.

Although the path to commercialization is fraught with challenges, Intellectual Ventures seems to have never given up on improving this system. Last September, the research team published a paper in the Scientific Reports journal under Nature, exploring a set of reasonable laser parameters to find the optimal combination of target mortality, system cost, and safety.

Innovative Laser Mosquito Zapper Created by Russian Scientist Using Raspberry Pi

Paper link: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-71824-y

Perhaps in a few years, we will really be able to wait (and live) to see this product come to market: “Second battalion leader, bring my laser mosquito cannon over…”

References:

https://news.zol.com.cn/535/5351612.html

https://cn.technode.com/post/2016-08-30/leishen-ladar/

https://www.leiphone.com/news/201606/ySmxApHp3dDWtKoY.html

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2017/07/laser-shooting-mosquito-death-machine-nathan-myhrvold.html

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Innovative Laser Mosquito Zapper Created by Russian Scientist Using Raspberry Pi

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