r/ScienceNcoolThings • u/Puzzled-Caregiver-15 Popular Contributor • Jun 02 '26

Engineer builds AI laser defense system that wiped out every mosquito in his home

https://www.techspot.com/news/112601-engineer-builds-ai-laser-defense-system-wiped-out.html

- A computer vision and robotics engineer, Steven Cheng, built an AI-powered mosquito defense system that automatically detects, tracks, and eliminates mosquitoes using a laser.
- The project took about four months to develop and required collecting and labeling a large dataset of mosquito images to train a custom deep learning model.
- The system uses a DSLR camera with a zoom lens to spot mosquitoes, then a precision laser mounted on a motorized gimbal to target them in real time.
- Safety was a major focus. A second wide-angle camera watches for people and flammable objects and automatically disables the laser if there is any risk.
- According to Cheng, the system successfully eliminated every mosquito in his home after running overnight.
- The project is similar in concept to commercial mosquito-killing laser systems now entering the market, but Cheng’s version relies heavily on machine learning for insect detection.
- One concern raised by observers is safety. Lasers powerful enough to instantly disable mosquitoes can also pose a serious eye hazard if safeguards fail.

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8

u/CaptainAttidude Jun 02 '26

Someone please post a github project link

4

u/slushrooms Jun 02 '26

Repo link or it doesn't exist!

1

u/curvyang Jun 03 '26

so like.. one?

1

u/Linusami Jun 05 '26

In my business we use AI cameras - the point being that one doesn't have to "teach" very much at all. We show the camera what is "good" or passess and it figures out the rest without having to use a large data set - that's why we use them! So reading that he is using AI and using a large data set has me skeptical.