This blue laser finds a mosquito in 3 milliseconds and burns its wings mid-flight
A Chinese startup, Photon Matrix, has released a laser-based mosquito defense system that claims to identify and burn insects mid-flight using LiDAR and blue lasers. The device is designed for residential use, though its safety and efficacy claims have not been independently verified.
Why it matters
This technology represents a novel, non-chemical approach to pest control, though it raises questions regarding consumer safety and the effectiveness of automated laser systems.
Mosquitoes kill roughly 700,000 people a year, which makes them the deadliest animal on the planet by a wide margin. Our defences have not changed much in a century: nets, coils, sprays, and a rolled-up newspaper. A startup in Changzhou, in eastern China, thinks the next step is a laser turret that sits on your patio and shoots the insects out of the air.Photon Matrix has opened preorders for its blue laser mosquito air defense system at $1,088, roughly Rs 95,000, after starting mass production in August. The company says the device locks onto a mosquito in three milliseconds and can take down up to 30 of them a second, in complete darkness, without chemicals and without noise.
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