Originally published at: http://boingboing.net/2017/06/28/contraption-to-shoot-mosquitos.html
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“The Russians just use a pencil”
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Hope that computer is running a Real-time OS of some sort.
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What were those mosquitoes doing with laser beams?
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“Dad, how did the Stealth Mosquito evolve?”
“Through human hubris son. Now slather on your DEET-5000 and make sure your skeet shields are in place. We need to go to the store.”
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Good thing they found a use for them that raised shareholder value, instead of just saving human lives!
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I know this could be assembled from some already existing software for the Raspberry PI, a blue ray laser, 1st surface mirror mounted on a two stepper gimbal, and a microphone.
So why is this not open sourced, and bypass that patent troll owned patent?
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It would make one hell of a laser show in my back yard!
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Yeah, that does tend to be a positive. Things like this are generally a lot cheaper when produced in volume. Let the citrus growers carry the development cost, then pass the savings on to areas affected by malaria
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Laser-firing killer robot…
What could go wrong 
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Since you asked.
They hook it up to an AI for improved accuracy rate, smart learning, etc.
And it eventually decides Humans are insects that are harmful to Humans.
EXTERMINATE EXTERMINATE
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Does it actually work? Then…
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It would first need a way to hover.
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If that’s the case, the all-powerful free market should cover the development costs. I’m told it’s, like, super good at that kind of thing? If Intellectual Ventures Lab is really a charity looking to change the world, it should be focusing on problems that the market can’t solve. Unless the charity thing is really just a fig leaf for a bunch of IP vultures who wanted to build a really cool shop*, of course.
- I’ve toured it, and I’m absolutely willing to acknowledge that it is a very cool shop.
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I just don’t really see it as a negative that they do both. Killing bugs for profit and killing bugs to save lives aren’t in any way mutually exclusive goals. I don’t really get the snark
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Good luck because the hard part isn’t hitting the mosquito it’s finding them with a camera at a useful distance. Also doubt a small blu-ray laser has the power to burn the wings.
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#Damn Robots! They’re stealing our jerbs!
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If I recall, it was triangulated via the particular sound of mosquito wings, and the blue ray laser was used in the prototypes.
But hell, upgrade the laser. You can get a real mean one for a couple hundred
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