Tracking and identification demo of The Laser Mosquito Killer at TED 2010.

Interesting video about the tracking and identification demo of The Laser Mosquito Killer at TED 2010.

YouTube - The Laser Mosquito Killer at TED 2010.mov

Yeah I saw that a few weeks ago...

Jerry

very nice idea

I am very glad and grateful to you for sharing such a brilliant views and idea. Well the concept is really very genuine and interesting. The motives are clearly depicting amazing features. I really liked this prospect which uniquely help to target the oneness.

I'm not bashing the idea itself, or the technology rear it ..... but .....

A green laser in a public ambient, shined on a glass plate / cage, near eyes level (you can see the reflections and diffractions from the glass panels, in the video, just rear the head of the speaking girl, almost at her eyes level), and powerful enough for kill a mosquito in movement ? ..... very safe idea, really .....

The guy states that he hasn't brought the killer laser only the tracking one which he said to be rated at around 5mw . It still isn't the brightest idea though...
Dave

Perhaps the idea of a Laser Mozzie Killer is a really bunk idea, but this was just a technology demonstrator wasnt it? It wasnt a "product" demonstrator?
From what I could observe, as long as that wasnt "pre-scripted" demonstrations from the lab, and if that green laser really WAS tracking those mozzies in the tank, that its a really really really really GREAT demonstrator of software tracking algorithms. I must admit I havent seen anything track a relatively random and small target so accurately in recent times. Even DOD projects would be impressed by this, if there isnt a "catch" with the demonstration.

Now thats freakin cool!

TED for then win.

like the proposed fencepost, the back of the box is retroreflective, which shows the mosquitos clearly, the tracking algorithm isn't all that advanced in this case... nothing an undergrad can't handle.

by the way, can someone here give me an idea on what type of lasers would i be using to build one of these? (and i mean the kill laser)

i am planning on building one of the prototypes as my final year project, and to reduce cost i mite have to resort to lasers already on the market (like the blue ray ones).
if i was to deliver 50mJ in a few ms, what should the spec for the laser have to be??

Who cares if it's reflecting? Its a 5mW green. It's not going to hurt anything. There's being safe, and there's being stupid safe. I remember when i was about 13 (12 years ago) I stared into a 5mw red laser. For a LONG time, i'm talking minutes. My vision is perfectly fine.


Safety is important but being overly safe is just so annoying to me.

Either way it was an impressive display of tracking. When the camera went to the side you could see the laser keeping the bug lit up as they were in motion....
Now they just need a multi watt CO2 lasers to pop on that thing.

Think this thing could distinguish cats getting into my dumpster? I would love to zap those over sized rodents, or their owners for that matter.

A pellet gun trains them to associate the dumpsters
with a bad experience... and the same cats will stay
away....:eg:

(that or water....)


Jerry

i am planning on building one of the prototypes as my final year project, and to reduce cost i mite have to resort to lasers already on the market (like the blue ray ones).
if i was to deliver 50mJ in a few ms, what should the spec for the laser have to be??[/QUOTE]

Ah, now we find out why this will most likely never be more then a nice project for Bill and Melinda to get a tax writeoff for.

50 mJ at what spot size?

1 millijoule is 1 mW for 1 second, but power on target is not a kill, your pK/LD depends on adsorption and energy density. If the target substrate is heated slowly, ie collimated violet diode, it has time to cool off from ambient air. (Note pK is military probability of a kill, LD50 is medical notation for kills 50% of targets)


Pick your target wisely...
Your laser is chosen based on the adsorption spectrum of the wings, and/or maybe the eyes. A body kill would require prime focusing. Small structures such as legs, well.... the light will go right around them.

Keratin/Chitin and similar biomaterals are a tough target.

Your down to YAG at 1064 or co2 at 10.6u.

If I were optimizing to the target, I'd be going after Ho:YAG or Er:yag or CTH:YAG, or excimer, but its not affordable. Those are the lasers doctors prefer for hard tissues. None of them are cheap.

Power = rate times time. 250 mW violet laser, 1 joule = 1 watt for one second. .050 watt/seconds using a 250 mW blue ray means 1/5 second of exposure, so two tenths of a second. Bye, Bye, blu-ray concept.


Direct diode is probably out, as diode price tends to rise as roughly the square of the power and 808 nm is poorly adsorbed by hard tissue. Bigger diodes have bigger dies which makes the optics harder.

That assumes 100% adsorption on a blackbody target, proper focusing, perfect tracking and perfect optics in a vacuum, None of which exist. The biggest downer is air will cool the target with cw light, you need to hit high adsorption at a rate faster then the cooling. To avoid the cooling, you can try Qswitching, to time compress the light.

So now you need to target the maximum tissue adsorption, or time compress the light. Qswitched ND:YAG has the time compression, a 7-20 nanosecond pulse, and you can get your 50 mJ in single shot. On a good day, a ND:YAG has a 18-25% conversion rate from pump to output.
It has a millisecond of storage time, so if you Qswitch it, 1 millisecond of pump is delivered in 10 nanoseconds, so you have about 10,000:1 theoretical time compression. As with all things laser, its never that perfect, but you get the idea. You need really good mirrors and optics to handle the power. This laser is NOT safe to have around humans, it goes right to the retina tissue.

On the 100% adsorption side, you could use a CW CO2. A refillable, reliable US made 3-5 watt Co2 is 3000$ academic research pricing, runs off 12VDC, and the 10 micron wavelength has nearly 100% adsorption by the wings. The downsize is focusing optics for long distances are not cheap. Its cheaper then YAG, and your pK is high for less power. It is strongly adsorbed by the cornea, so if some one gets a eye hit, its not as bad as YAG. You can't replace the retina, but a cornea is somewhat replacable with plastic. O-H bonds strongly adsorb at this wavelength, so it is a prime choice for frying or ablating tissue. In your case your frying, cooking, and breaking down the proteins, or cracking the wings by boiling any water in the tissue.

So your choices are most likely Co2, ND:YAG, or fiber lasers at 1550 nm.

Co2 is cheap, has a decent beam quality and is very controllable.

Steve

Thanks Nano for the vid!
And then we see the mosquito zapped in slo-mo. ...............