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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…
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
> 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].
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I’m not here to sell my own startup, but there are other ways to kill mosquitoes than a 40 watts laser that could make someone blind from a secondary reflection (out of the mmWave radar detection range)
I think that by "secondary reflection" you are perhaps refering to a direct single reflection, rather than a double bank? But in any case it is very very unlikely that there will anything availible outside of a high caliber optics lab that can reflect cohearant laser beams in such a way as to retain a dangerous power level. The 40 watt laser is needed in order to provide a kill shot in in a small target in millisecon…
A human eye being transparent up to the fragile retina, yes, a laser would penetrate the eye and be concentrated in an extremely small spot on the retina. That's exactly the reason why we have safety around lasers, and why everything above 5mw is strictly for enclosed use. 40 watts shot at random in the void is definitely dangerous by all measures.
“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.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
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
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]:…
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
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.
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.