One of my current side projects is to connect a pair of galvos, a 3 watt IR laser diode, and openCV to run when I'm not there calling it "High Tech Pest Control with Photons" :-)
We tend to get Argentine ants in the Bay Area and they do attract spiders, but they also keep down the cockroach population. So there are arguments for and against keeping them.
Isn't this technology owned by Intellectual Ventures - the patent troll run by Nathan Myhrvold?
Doesn't it seem more likely they developed and patented this and are waiting for someone else to infringe on their patent, rather than them ever actually creating a product?
This is a perfect example of how broken our patent system is. We have a technology that absolutely has demand, but it will never be produced because it's more profitable to abuse our patent system in the courts than it is to actually manufacture and sell a product.
cool! been thinking about some very weak laser & attached detector every time I was lying under one of mosquito nets while travelling (or cursing myself for forgetting to bring one with me). Didn't know it's actually semi-real thing :O
The issue I thought about was cheap and reliable detection - to avoid firing laser in direction of a person's yes behind mosquito for example.
"Photonic Fence can kill up to 50 to 100 mosquitoes a second, at a maximum range of 100 ft" - now that's pretty awesome!
I have ascertained that argentine ants have sufficient absorption at infrared wavelengths that laser will ablate them.
For those wondering about fire insurance, its not a long distance thing, its a camera looking down on a region about 1' x 1' of light colored paving tiles (ceramic). The entire apparatus would sit about 3' off the tiles (to give enough x and y control over the beam) The tiles are not reflective relative to IR but I've got IR screens anyway (I suppose an ant could try to carry a mirror if you watch horror movies)
We tend to get Argentine ants in the Bay Area and they do attract spiders, but they also keep down the cockroach population. So there are arguments for and against keeping them.