“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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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[ 4.5 ms ] story [ 52.9 ms ] threadI’d want to see some third-party testing around eye safety before putting this in my home.
> "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
Microsoft alum fights malaria by zapping mosquitoes with lasers | ZDNET https://share.google/qd3yWi72Zk9yRyxoh
The fact it doesn't do houseflies is a huge downer though.
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.
40 watts / 5 milliwatts (safety threshold) = 8000 lasers needed in the system you propose
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.