Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Emerging Tech
  3. Smart Home
  4. News

This ingenious invention highlights mosquitoes so you can murder them faster

By
Add as a preferred source on Google
Introducing Bzigo - First Ever Device to Detect and Locate Mosquitoes

This story is part of our continuing coverage of CES 2020, including tech and gadgets from the showroom floor.

Recommended Videos

Few things are more frustrating than lying in a dark room, drifting off to the land of nod, when you’re suddenly jolted awake by the high-pitched whine of a mosquito, floating through the blackness with designs on your tasty, tasty blood. Such moments can quickly transform even the most measured of people into crazed wall-smacking loons as they try and squash the cursed bug before it can bite.

CES has some good news, then, in the form of Bzigo: a laser detection system that uses a combination of infrared (IR) camera, laser designator, and smart computer vision algorithms to clue you in on the location of the pesky mosquito is as it buzzes around your room.

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Sadly, it won’t blow it out of the sky with said laser like a miniature Death Star obliterating a particularly bloodthirsty Alderaan. Instead, once Bzigo has spotted its target (from up to 8 meters/26 feet away) an eye-safe laser highlights the mosquito when it lands. It will even send a notification via Wi-Fi to the user’s phone on the off-chance that they’re not already aware of the tiny floaty vampire hiding in the darkness. It’s then up to you to go and remove it from your domicile in a peaceful, life-preserving way — or by turning it into a tiny smear on your wall; hopefully with just enough time before its demise for the neurons in its tiny insect brain to regret ever hassling you. (The company is, however, considering a more autonomous death-dealing system, in the form of a nano drone, for the future.)

While, for most of us, a mosquito in the night is just an annoyance, it’s worth pointing out that this is a serious problem in many parts of the world. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), mosquitoes are the worst of the disease-transmitting insects; aiding with the spread of diseases including malaria, dengue, yellow fever, and more. If technology such as this was able to be implemented in parts of the world where they mosquito-borne diseases are rife, this could prove to be a genuine life saver.

The first generation of Bzigo mosquito-spotter is expected to hit the market sometime in the next 12-14 months. It is likely to cost around $170.

Follow our live blog for more CES news and announcements.

Luke Dormehl
Luke Dormehl
Former Contributor
I'm a UK-based tech writer covering Cool Tech at Digital Trends. I've also written for Fast Company, Wired, the Guardian…
Topics
Your future AR glasses might finally stop making the real world look weird
Researchers have developed a new display technique that keeps virtual objects realistic without dimming the real world.
Samsung AR Glasses

One of the biggest promises of augmented reality is blending digital objects seamlessly into the real world. Ironically, today's AR glasses often make the real world harder to see. Researchers at the Shibaura Institute of Technology (SIT) in Japan, led by Assistant Professor Xiaodan Hu in collaboration with Dr. Yan Zhang and Professor Xubo Yang from Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China, and Professor Kiyoshi Kiyokawa from Japan's Nara Institute of Science and Technology, have developed a new AR display technique that aims to make virtual objects look realistic without reducing visibility of the real world. The study was published in IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics.

The biggest AR problem isn't virtual objects; it's everything around them

Read more
Anti-surveillance clothing is getting cheaper, but don’t expect an invisibility cloak
Affordable shirts now claim to confuse facial recognition, although their protection depends heavily on the camera and software watching you
Chart, Plot, Adult

Anti-surveillance clothing is starting to look less like an art-school experiment and more like something you could actually wear outside. Shirts designed to confuse facial recognition systems now cost about as much as ordinary streetwear, although buying one won’t make you disappear.

The Guardian reports that designers are using face-like prints, unusual cuts and infrared lights to interfere with computer vision. These techniques target specific weaknesses, so their success depends on what happens to be watching you.

Read more
This spinning drone hides in plain sight using a visual illusion
This drone doesn't turn invisible. It tricks your brain into thinking it has.
Phantom Twist

For decades, engineers have chased the dream of an invisible drone. The usual approaches have involved transparent materials, camouflage coatings, or complex optical systems that bend light around an object. Researchers at Northwestern University decided to take a completely different route. Instead of hiding the drone itself, they chose to fool the human eye.

The result is Phantom Twist, an experimental drone that spins so rapidly it almost disappears into the background. It's not technically invisible, but to anyone watching, it looks more like a faint blur than a flying machine.

Read more