Zapping Mosquitos With Lasers Is a Real Thing, Thanks to AI

As summer arrives, and mosquitoes celebrate another season of bloody conquest, you might be thinking, “Why do we even have all this AI tech if it can’t do a single thing about these airborne pests?” There are plenty of reasons to complain about artificial intelligence, but its failure to fight mosquitoes is no longer one of them.

Using machine learning, inventor Steven Cheng has developed a lethal series of prototypes designed to hunt down and zap the blood-sucking pests with lasers. Cheng has been chronicling the project on X, where he shares videos of his mobile mosquito defense system.

Cheng said in his posts that he spent four months developing an “artillery cannon guided by computer vision + deep learning” as “the ultimate mosquito killer.” 

It uses a Canon digital single-lens reflex camera with a high-magnification zoom lens and software to identify mosquitoes. The research phase, he said in a video, resulted in “countless bites all over my body.” 

The laser was tuned to “roast” mosquitoes without harming household items or people, which are both detected by the software. A wide-angle lens was also added to improve the system’s ability to identify humans and flammable materials. Power to the laser is cut if either is in the targeting crosshairs.

Subsequent versions of the weapon added mobility, putting the Canon on wheels for hunting, including outdoors. Cheng also added a Gatling-gun-style design and infrared vision to spot the insects even in the dark.

Cheng didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Other mosquito defenses

Not everyone is willing to build out a laser defense system to take out flying pests. Some of us just buy bug spray and gadgets such as Thermacells or hanging bug zappers.

If you have good aim, the Bug-A-Salt is a salt-firing pellet gun meant to take out not only mosquitoes but house flies, hornets, carpenter bees and other insects.

Cheng isn’t the only person using lasers in the fight against bugs. The base-mounted Photon Matrix was crowdfunded on Indiegogo last year and is expected to ship this summer. The basic version costs about $500.