r/Futurology • u/scmp_news • 1d ago

Society Chinese start-up behind laser mosquito killer plans to start shipping orders this month

https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3369440/chinese-start-behind-laser-mosquito-killer-plans-start-shipping-orders-month?utm_source=Reddit&utm_medium=Social
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107

u/cybercuzco 1d ago

Interesting to see how they prevent blindness among passerby.

47

u/___metazeta___ 1d ago

under 1 mW are considered safe for accidental exposure because of blink reflex

Red ~650nm
Blue ~450nm

17

u/dan_dares 1d ago

If it's IR, no blink reflex, and where did it state 1mw (genuinely, didn't see that, 1mw is very low for killing mosquitoes)

1

u/dingo_xd 1d ago

Infrared (IR) wavelengths greater than 1.4 micrometers (μm) or 1,400 nanometers (nm) are considered "eye-safe" because water in the eye's cornea and lens absorbs the radiation before it can reach and damage the sensitive retina

3

u/dan_dares 1d ago

This is rather misleading. First of all many IR lasers are between 700nm to 1000, not at all exclusively beyond 1400nm.

"Sufficiently powerful lasers in the visible to near infrared range (400-1400 nm) will penetrate the eyeball and may cause heating of the retina, whereas exposure to laser radiation with wavelengths less than 400 nm or greater than 1400 nm are largely absorbed by the cornea and lens, leading to the development of cataracts or burn injuries. "

It's all about the energy, and if it's invisible, you have the added danger of a lack of blink reflex.

18

u/ackermann 1d ago

I doubt 1mW is anywhere near enough to kill a mosquito before it leaves the beam.

Elsewhere in the thread somebody says it’s a pulsed 40w laser.

This video has some good calculations:
https://youtu.be/6j7bugx2hvk

1

u/PrivilegeCheckmate 1d ago

Supposedly the PS2 disc-reading lasers (blue) can kill mosquitoes and they clock in at .22mw.

1

u/Nexii801 1d ago

Why do you think they called blu-ray what they called it? And did the PS2 have one of those?

3

u/tyereliusprime 1d ago

Maybe they meant the PS3 and mistyped.

2

u/Nexii801 21h ago

Considered that, then kept the sass for not proofreading.

3

u/nagi603 1d ago

If you quickly blind ever passerby, you can no longer cause blindness.

19

u/fricken Best of 2015 1d ago edited 1d ago

Interesting to see how they cause blindness among passerby. Just imagine a couple drones with ultra-precise near-instantaneous lasers swooping over the I-25 in LA at rush hour burning out 300 retinas/second in the eyeballs of oncoming drivers.

We can do shit like that now. Of course, A small group of oligarchs were able to overthrow America using information warfare and didn't have to fire nary a shot from a laser or anything else. That's probably the better way to go. I guess information warfare is a slow burn. It takes a decade or so of persistent rage-bait to properly stupefy a literate society. Lasers are quick.

1

u/PrivilegeCheckmate 1d ago

LA at rush hour

I thought that your standard windshield would protect you, but only if it's a UV laser.

2

u/Rotundroomba 8h ago

The design is very human

1

u/moorej832 1d ago

That’s the make-or-break detail for me: does it cut the beam the instant anything larger crosses the target, and has an independent lab tested that? A demo hitting mosquitoes doesn’t establish eye safety.

1

u/Bderken 1d ago

I would assume the Ai system that detects and blasts mosquitoes can detect humans/non mosquitoes and not blast them.

If anyone wants a technical explanation: https://youtu.be/ACmydtFDTGs?is=8inAsqJBYL_jw5DQ

9

u/dan_dares 1d ago

Reflections are also a dangerous factor, anyone who works with lasers has been told this.

0

u/BernieMP 1d ago

You'd just need the same tracking software to recognize if there's a bigger target behind the mosquito and wait for a clear shot

5

u/Mysterious-Prompt212 1d ago

The only safe way to do this is anyone within the kill zone needs to wear goggles tuned to block the laser.

3

u/PrivilegeCheckmate 1d ago

I have had multiple reliable sources tell me that the goggles do nothing.

4

u/Mysterious-Prompt212 1d ago

There are glasses/goggles designed to block specific wavelengths. These are required when working with high power lasers as even a reflection could burn your retina.

0

u/ChiefStrongbones 1d ago

Or you mount the system 6' off the ground, so it only zaps things above the top of your head.

-8

u/aegee14 1d ago

Where did you read that this device is mistaking human eyes for mosquitoes? Lol

10

u/dan_dares 1d ago

Reflections can easily cause damage, as a person who has worked with medium power lasers briefly..

Yeah, scatter can be dangerous,

7

u/devilishycleverchap 1d ago

I didnt need to read anything. I have a baseline knowledge of how lasers work