This is safety-critical software: one mistake will blind a person.
> "Importantly, the device additionally uses millimeter-wave radar to scan its field of view for larger objects such as people and pets. If any of these are detected, its mosquito-zapping laser will not fire."
I note the startup doesn't actually disclose the laser output power anywhere, or what regulatory class that power level falls in. It's federal law[0] that commercially-sold lasers are labelled with this information.
They do in a YouTube video on their channel [0]. It’s 40 (!) watts. They also show it shooting indiscriminately at any small object, with an example where they feed it foam chips.
That's more than enough to permanently blind someone with a partial reflection, i.e. you point this at an insect and there's a small polished-metal object somewhere behind it.
40W is scary strong for a laser. Almost like a nuke compared to a firecracker[0]:
> 5 milliwatts is wimpy. We can do better.
A 1-watt laser is an extremely dangerous thing. It’s not just powerful enough to blind you—it’s capable of burning skin and setting things on fire. Obviously, they’re not legal for consumer purchase in the US.
“the device additionally uses millimeter-wave radar to scan its field of view for larger objects such as people and pets. If any of these are detected, its mosquito-zapping laser will not fire”
I’d want to see some third-party testing around eye safety before putting this in my home.
There is no eye safety - if it burns mosquito then it burns your retina.
And if you aren't moving, lets say sleeping, would the device decide it is ok to fire?
Instead of laser, they should have made a mechanical hand with fly zapper, fragile/soft enough to not injure people and pets, yet strong enough to kill mosquito. Or even like in that movie where kung-fu master catches a fly using chopsticks :)
What I really want is an iOS app that helps me locate insects in a room. Start video feed, analyze pixels for a small object flying around and draw a green box around each while flying and a red box once it lands somewhere. I can take care of the rest.
I often spot the mosquito but lose track of it after a second (against a patterned background) or if it rapdily changes direction (which they seemed to have evolved to do).
This product brings back fond memories to one of those early-internet gems: the "Star Wars mosquito defence system" gag infomercial that was launched 18 years (!) ago: https://youtu.be/wSIWpFPkYrk
The eye safety issue with laser mosquito zapping could be addressed with multiple beams.
Say you need to deliver at least M joules of energy at the wavelength of the laser to the mosquito over at most T seconds in order to kill it, and suppose and eyes must receive less than E joules of energy at the wavelength over that same timeframe to not be damaged.
Encircle the area you want to protect with at least M/E lasers each individually each with low enough output power to not damage an eye if they hit is directly. Control all these lasers with a common controller which picks out a target and fires all the lasers at it simultaneously.
The target gets hit with all the lasers receiving a fatal rapid influx in energy. Anyplace else in the area that gets hit by any beams that miss the target should only get hit by one and so be safe.
Add a suitable safety margin by increasing the number of lasers and decreasing their individual power so that even if a person or animal gets a direct hit from one beam plus reflections from a couple more they will be safe.
That should be safe for almost all normal rooms. Train the installers to refuse to install in places with a lot of curved reflective surfaces, such as mirror coated elliptical room where a miss trying to zap a mosquito at one focus could be bad news for a human at the other focus.
the small Lidar for commercial use like the Sony AS-DT1 , advertised like the "World’s Smallest and Lightest Precision LiDAR Sensor" available today hare a resolution of * ±5 centimeters* that is good for an Xenomorph but not for a mosquito and, anyway , for Xenomorph there are better options :-) , see : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IS2PtmM9mwU
4. The video of the company on youtube seems just another computer graphic gimmick to sell vaporware, IMHO. There is a prototype someone can independently test ?
They write "Relying on the advancement of lidar detection technology, this sci-fi and magical product will soon truly become a reality", I have to say no, not for now.
I think these things are a bit wasted on mosquitos which can be done in quite well by a plug in mozzie killer with insecticide in. Now bed bugs could be a worthier foe.
I recently learned about mosquito dunks and they work very well. They stop mosquito eggs from hatching, which is better because they still waste time laying eggs
"The concept of a laser-based mosquito defence system took off back in 2007, when astrophysicist Lowell Wood (one of the architects of the USA's famous Reagan-era "Star Wars" missile defence initiative) raised the idea of a smaller, mosquito-targeting laser system at a Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation brainstorming session on eliminating malaria.
Over the following years, prototypes were built, using freely available parts from cell phones and laser printers. A device was patented and demonstrated by a company called Intellectual Ventures, which was more interested in owning the patent than making a product. "
> which was more interested in owning the patent than making a product.
I really hope that after copyright protections (insanely long, IMO) get revamped in the LLM aftermath, we start focusing on patent law. Patents were always in my mind a way to protect small_inventor from big_bad_corp, and give them a breathing room to get a product to market. We should really focus on this, and make patents moot as long as a) a working prototype is not demonstrated, b) the patent holder doesn't pursue the tech, c) a small domain-specific timeframe (less for medicine for example) and d) it's really really generic (i.e. a method to have LLM agents work in a loop - no, bobby, everyone can do that.)
Here we go again; ideas like these seem to crop up every summer. Here's the problem all of them have in common: a laser powerful enough to kill a mosquito is also strong enough to blind people or to set things on fire if it misses.
In the original prototype that was covered some years ago by the gates foundation, they specifically had a way to detect female mosquitoes (by the wing flapping rates, iirc) so they don't just zap indiscriminately.
This is safety-critical software: one mistake will blind a person.
> "Importantly, the device additionally uses millimeter-wave radar to scan its field of view for larger objects such as people and pets. If any of these are detected, its mosquito-zapping laser will not fire."
I note the startup doesn't actually disclose the laser output power anywhere, or what regulatory class that power level falls in. It's federal law[0] that commercially-sold lasers are labelled with this information.
[0] https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/21/1040.10
They do in a YouTube video on their channel [0]. It’s 40 (!) watts. They also show it shooting indiscriminately at any small object, with an example where they feed it foam chips.
[0]: https://youtu.be/Ta0f0oB4I-Q?si=WqlhTmVHVszXSjtU
That's more than enough to permanently blind someone with a partial reflection, i.e. you point this at an insect and there's a small polished-metal object somewhere behind it.
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40W is scary strong for a laser. Almost like a nuke compared to a firecracker[0]:
> 5 milliwatts is wimpy. We can do better.
A 1-watt laser is an extremely dangerous thing. It’s not just powerful enough to blind you—it’s capable of burning skin and setting things on fire. Obviously, they’re not legal for consumer purchase in the US.
Just kidding! You can pick one up for $300[1].
[0]: https://what-if.xkcd.com/13/
[1]: http://www.wickedlasers.com/arctic
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“the device additionally uses millimeter-wave radar to scan its field of view for larger objects such as people and pets. If any of these are detected, its mosquito-zapping laser will not fire”
I’d want to see some third-party testing around eye safety before putting this in my home.
If there are no people around I wonder what is the utility of killing the mosquitos?
"Why should I kill all the mosquitos in this store 5 minutes before we open if there's nobody around right now?"
There is no eye safety - if it burns mosquito then it burns your retina. And if you aren't moving, lets say sleeping, would the device decide it is ok to fire?
Instead of laser, they should have made a mechanical hand with fly zapper, fragile/soft enough to not injure people and pets, yet strong enough to kill mosquito. Or even like in that movie where kung-fu master catches a fly using chopsticks :)
> And if you aren't moving, lets say sleeping,
This isn't the best example, how is it supposed to hit your retina if your eyes are closed?
What I really want is an iOS app that helps me locate insects in a room. Start video feed, analyze pixels for a small object flying around and draw a green box around each while flying and a red box once it lands somewhere. I can take care of the rest.
My dogs do this for me, minus the green box bit. They hear bugs, locate them, and focus on them until I do the rest, then they try to eat the remains.
Wait til you learn about cats. Houseflies are a free interactive toy for them to stalk
wont your eyes be infinitely better than a phone camera for this?
I often spot the mosquito but lose track of it after a second (against a patterned background) or if it rapdily changes direction (which they seemed to have evolved to do).
Maybe yours are today, but maybe they won't be, tomorrow.
This product brings back fond memories to one of those early-internet gems: the "Star Wars mosquito defence system" gag infomercial that was launched 18 years (!) ago: https://youtu.be/wSIWpFPkYrk
I remember watching this when it came out, in Dutch. Weird to be at an age where you remember stuff from 18 years ago.
The eye safety issue with laser mosquito zapping could be addressed with multiple beams.
Say you need to deliver at least M joules of energy at the wavelength of the laser to the mosquito over at most T seconds in order to kill it, and suppose and eyes must receive less than E joules of energy at the wavelength over that same timeframe to not be damaged.
Encircle the area you want to protect with at least M/E lasers each individually each with low enough output power to not damage an eye if they hit is directly. Control all these lasers with a common controller which picks out a target and fires all the lasers at it simultaneously.
The target gets hit with all the lasers receiving a fatal rapid influx in energy. Anyplace else in the area that gets hit by any beams that miss the target should only get hit by one and so be safe.
Add a suitable safety margin by increasing the number of lasers and decreasing their individual power so that even if a person or animal gets a direct hit from one beam plus reflections from a couple more they will be safe.
That should be safe for almost all normal rooms. Train the installers to refuse to install in places with a lot of curved reflective surfaces, such as mirror coated elliptical room where a miss trying to zap a mosquito at one focus could be bad news for a human at the other focus.
> each with low enough output power to not damage an eye if they hit is directly
40 watts / 5 milliwatts (safety threshold) = 8000 lasers needed in the system you propose
I've been waiting for something like this for ages.
The fact it doesn't do houseflies is a huge downer though.
What will be the mosquito evolutionary response/outcome to this innovation?!
Mirrors.
Disco skeeters!
I smell scam, for the following reason:
1. this is NOT a product is an Indiegogo fund raising:
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/worlds-first-portable-mos...
the product estimated shipment should be * october 2025*
2. In the Indiegogo page, they assert it will use a Lidar ( laser based) and not a mm radar ( based on radio signals );
3. Can a Lidar track something big as a mosquito ? apparently NO:
https://dronelife.com/2025/04/15/sony-launches-worlds-smalle...
the small Lidar for commercial use like the Sony AS-DT1 , advertised like the "World’s Smallest and Lightest Precision LiDAR Sensor" available today hare a resolution of * ±5 centimeters* that is good for an Xenomorph but not for a mosquito and, anyway , for Xenomorph there are better options :-) , see : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IS2PtmM9mwU
4. The video of the company on youtube seems just another computer graphic gimmick to sell vaporware, IMHO. There is a prototype someone can independently test ?
They write "Relying on the advancement of lidar detection technology, this sci-fi and magical product will soon truly become a reality", I have to say no, not for now.
Please tell me if I'm wrong.
This needs to be sized up and made to defend against kamikaze drones. Soon, very soon, everybody will want this to feel safe.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/british-soldiers-take-dow...
Wasn't this scaled down from such a device?
Yes, absolutely. But that precursor was actually a scaled up version of a device made to target birds.
2 replies →
Maybe it doesn't hurt eyes, but I guess wide adoption of this tech would lay a minefield for mirrorless camera sensors.
2010: https://archive.nytimes.com/bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/1...
I think these things are a bit wasted on mosquitos which can be done in quite well by a plug in mozzie killer with insecticide in. Now bed bugs could be a worthier foe.
I recently learned about mosquito dunks and they work very well. They stop mosquito eggs from hatching, which is better because they still waste time laying eggs
This idea has been around for decades.
Microsoft alum fights malaria by zapping mosquitoes with lasers | ZDNET https://share.google/qd3yWi72Zk9yRyxoh
That is addressed in the article:
"The concept of a laser-based mosquito defence system took off back in 2007, when astrophysicist Lowell Wood (one of the architects of the USA's famous Reagan-era "Star Wars" missile defence initiative) raised the idea of a smaller, mosquito-targeting laser system at a Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation brainstorming session on eliminating malaria.
Over the following years, prototypes were built, using freely available parts from cell phones and laser printers. A device was patented and demonstrated by a company called Intellectual Ventures, which was more interested in owning the patent than making a product. "
> which was more interested in owning the patent than making a product.
I really hope that after copyright protections (insanely long, IMO) get revamped in the LLM aftermath, we start focusing on patent law. Patents were always in my mind a way to protect small_inventor from big_bad_corp, and give them a breathing room to get a product to market. We should really focus on this, and make patents moot as long as a) a working prototype is not demonstrated, b) the patent holder doesn't pursue the tech, c) a small domain-specific timeframe (less for medicine for example) and d) it's really really generic (i.e. a method to have LLM agents work in a loop - no, bobby, everyone can do that.)
Here we go again; ideas like these seem to crop up every summer. Here's the problem all of them have in common: a laser powerful enough to kill a mosquito is also strong enough to blind people or to set things on fire if it misses.
Yay, more ways to kill insects! /s
In the original prototype that was covered some years ago by the gates foundation, they specifically had a way to detect female mosquitoes (by the wing flapping rates, iirc) so they don't just zap indiscriminately.