Predict 3D position of flying bugs and pest to shoot down them with a laser • Hacker News Board

Re: Predict 3D position of flying bugs and pest to shoot down them with a laser

#121

Post by wartijn_ » Sun, Jan 02, 2022, 12:09 AM UTC

pmontra wrote: post #58

wartijn_ wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It doesn't have to be used to kill all insects, just the few mosquitos that are in my bedroom when I try to sleep. I'll remove any dead mosquitos the next morning and probably won't really alter the ecosystem, while it can make sure I have a good night's sleep. Edit: after re-reading the article I see the main subject is killing moths to improve agriculture, not mosquitos in my bedroom

You should buy an electric mosquito racket. Basically any standing mosquito is a dead mosquito because you move the racket over the mosquito, the bug gets scared and flies into the racket, game over. The only problems left are those invisible mosquitoes that manage to hide and fly only when the lights go off. Notwithstanding that a racket greatly improves the quality of life.

Yeah, I've got one and it's great. But not having to get out of bed would be even better.

Re: Predict 3D position of flying bugs and pest to shoot down them with a laser

#122

Post by stubish » Sun, Jan 02, 2022, 2:23 AM UTC

yakshaving_jgt wrote: post #116

stubish wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It never took off because a) Mosquitos are small and hard targets and b) because philanthropists realized they could buy mosquito nets for billions with the funding required to develop it. If it gets developed for mosquitoes, it will be a solution for rich people for decades.

Do you have a source for that? My understanding was that the technology worked just fine, and that it wasn’t expensive because the system comprised of consumer electronics, like the laser from a Blu-Ray player and the GPU from a PlayStation.

Anything with electronics is going to be orders of magnitude more expensive than insecticide treated nets, which cost cents. https://malariajournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s1... is one of a number of studies measuring the efficacy. To compete in the quest to end malaria it needs to be cheaper per-capita, off-grid, and at least as effective. I think nets, mosquito or parasite eradication and vaccination are the only approaches anyone is seriously pursuing.

Re: Predict 3D position of flying bugs and pest to shoot down them with a laser

#123

Post by kragen » Wed, Jan 05, 2022, 8:32 PM UTC

titzer wrote: post #97

mLuby wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wipe them out, all of them. The ecosystem will survive mosquitoes' extinction. On the subject of laser safety, can you make one weak enough that a human will naturally blink or look away without getting blinded but powerful enough that it'll overheat the mosquito its trained on for a few seconds? If the Joules are spread out linearly over a few second, I expect it'd exponentially decrease the risk of chance reflectio…

> Wipe them out, all of them. The ecosystem will survive mosquitoes' extinction. Reminds me of the Chinese's brutally misguided attempts to stave off the famines during the Cultural Revolution. One of their worst ideas was to eradicate sparrows, thinking that sparrows were eating crops. No, sparrows were eating insects that were eating crops. So with sparrows gone, the insect population exploded, resulting in even wo…

That was the Great Leap Forward, eight years before the Cultural Revolution. Agreed about the complexities of ecological engineering.

Re: Predict 3D position of flying bugs and pest to shoot down them with a laser

#124

Post by kragen » Wed, Jan 05, 2022, 8:37 PM UTC

stubish wrote: post #96

yakshaving_jgt wrote: post #7

This sounds very similar to that old idea for protecting African families from female Aedes Aegypti mosquitoes[0]. I think the idea never took off, and I’m still not sure why. [0]: https://youtu.be/hqKafI7Amd8

It never took off because a) Mosquitos are small and hard targets and b) because philanthropists realized they could buy mosquito nets for billions with the funding required to develop it. If it gets developed for mosquitoes, it will be a solution for rich people for decades.

It never took off because the lab was a PR whitewash for the patent troll firm Intellectual Ventures, which wanted to appear less criminal and parasitic. They never had any intention of bringing it to market as a product. They've never brought any product to market, only extorted money from people who do.

IV has not, as far as I know, broken any laws, a fact which deeply undermines the legitimacy of the US legal system.