This product may be the personification of overkill, but it might be just crazy enough to work. A glossy black box tracks the buzz of a mosquito like a freaking radar, locks on with invisible light and fires a another laser pulse that drops the insect before it can bite.
That machine is the Photon Matrix, a crowdfunded gadget from Changzhou, China, now courting backers on Indiegogo. It wants to sway backer with bold claims: detection of a mosquito’s size, position and orientation in three milliseconds, and the power to “dispatch” up to 30 mosquitoes every second — even in a dark bedroom.
The Photon Matrix relies on LiDAR, the same laser ranging technology that guides self-driving cars or reveals hidden Maya temples in the jungle. One laser scans the air, timing how quickly light bounces back to reveal tiny wings in motion. A second laser, steered by a galvanometer mirror, delivers the lethal flash.
The system is set up to only strike targets flying under one meter per second. Mosquitoes fly, on average, 1 to 1.5 kilometers per hour — well below the device’s cutoff of 1 meter per second. Houseflies, which dart several times faster, would escape unscathed.
The creator likens it to a sort of air defense battery for mosquitoes. The resemblance is no coincidence, as the developer took cues from the military-industrial complex and a very similar older project that never went anywhere.
The concept traces its lineage to 2007, when the astrophysicist Lowell Wood, a veteran of the Strategic Defense Initiative, proposed shrinking missile-tracking lasers to mosquito scale. Prototypes built for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation showed promise but never reached consumers, according to New Atlas. Safety, particularly the risk of blinding people, remained a sticking point.
Two decades of cheaper optics and faster processors have changed the landscape. According to its campaign page, the device uses millimeter-wave radar to detect larger objects like humans and pets. If it sees one, the laser doesn’t fire. Jim Wong, the Photon Matrix’s creator, says the new device bakes “mandatory safety certification requirements into its design.” Yet the campaign lists no testing data and no company name beyond Mr. Wong himself. So there’s no guarantee that this product is actually eye-safe.
While the product is shown in action in a promotional video, backers have no way of knowing how real those scenes are, or how close the design is to actual production.
Zapping Mosquitoes. And Raising Eyebrows?
On paper, the Photon Matrix seems tailor-made for tropical nights or camping trips. Its Pro model boasts a six-meter range, wide enough to guard a patio or a tent’s interior. The technology, if it works as claimed, could supplement nets and sprays in areas where mosquitoes spread dangerous diseases like malaria.
But the road from prototype to mass-market device is strewn with failures. Even if the Photon Matrix works, many questions remain. Could the laser harm beneficial insects like moths or pollinators? Could the radar reliably avoid false positives when a child runs through the room? Would the optics remain accurate in the wind, or after a summer storm?
And then there’s the question of price. Early backers can expect to pay $468 for the basic version. The planned retail price climbs to nearly $900 for the Pro model. That puts it far out of reach for communities that most urgently need new tools to fight malaria. I think I’ll stick to bug spray at this price point, thanks. As I’m typing, more than 350 backers supported the IndieGoGo campaign for a total of nearly $200,000.
Meanwhile, other similar high-tech anti-mosquito devices — like the $199 Bzigo Iris — offer more modest capabilities. The Iris doesn’t kill mosquitoes; it simply tracks them and points a laser so humans can swat them manually. It’s not as thrilling, but it exists, and it ships.
As always with crowdfunded science gadgets, a dose of skepticism is warranted. It sure does sound awesome, though.
