Researchers have created a device that uses machine vision to spot cockroaches and zap them with a laser. They say the method could offer a cheaper and more environmentally friendly alternative to insecticides.
at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, UK, and his colleagues equipped a laser with two cameras and a small computer running an AI model that can be trained to target certain types of insect.
Rakhmatulin says the team opted to carry out experiments using cockroaches because their resilience is a stern test: 鈥淚f you can kill them, you can kill any pests.鈥� But it could equally be used to target other insects, such as mosquitoes, locusts or caterpillars.
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The researchers tested several different lasers and found that a 1600-milliwatt device was able to kill a German cockroach (Blattella germanica) at a distance of up to 1.2 metres in around a second. These pests are commonly found in homes on all continents except Antarctica and the allergens they produce can and cause allergic reactions in some people.
The cockroaches were placed in a transparent box designed not to impede the laser, but to keep the insects from escaping the experiment area. The cockroaches ran at an average speed of 1.3 metres per second, but the laser tracker was able to keep up with their movement.
When the laser hit a cockroach鈥檚 abdomen, it was killed before it could get away, but when it hit a leg first, they escaped with only slight damage. The researchers say they will need to train the AI to aim for certain parts of the cockroaches鈥� bodies to increase the effectiveness of the system.
Rakhmatulin says that the cost of an anti-pest laser system could be brought down to around 拢25, but that it will never be safe to use in residential settings because of the danger posed to human eyesight by lasers.
鈥淚t鈥檒l never be absolutely safe,鈥� he says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 my opinion that it cannot be used for home applications. If we talk about industrial or agricultural applications, it鈥檚 a very serious possibility. It鈥檚 very cheap, even compared to pesticides, because laser prices are not so high.鈥�
Oriental Insects
