Exterminating greenhouse pests with bat-inspired drones

Added on 06 July 2023

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Exterminating greenhouse pests with bat-inspired drones

Researchers have been testing real-life Batman-style gadgets to eradicate moth pests from greenhouses, including bat-inspired flying drones that hunt down and destroy moths—but new research reveals that the noise from drones can alter moth flight behavior. Their research was presented at the SEB Centenary Conference 2023, held 4–7 July, in Edinburgh, UK.

"The idea of using drones as an alternative solution to eliminating moths all started in the bedroom of one of the co-owners of the PATS startup company," says Dayo Jansen, a Ph.D. student from student from Wageningen University and Research in the Netherlands. "He was fed up with all the mosquitoes keeping him awake and he made a drone that hunts down mosquitoes."

Building on this idea, PATS is now creating drones and other animal-inspired technology to eradicate moth pests from large-scale plant and crop greenhouses.

While the drones are effective at removing moths, new research by Mr. Jansen shows that the noise of their flight affects the moth's flying behaviors. "After analyzing the sounds, we found that it produces ultrasound in the same range as a bat would be, the moth's natural predator," says Mr. Jansen. "Some moths still ignore the noise and get eliminated quickly, but for the moths that do get scared, we doubled down on the sound with our speakers by creating an environment where some of the moths would cease to fly."

Photo: Ultrasonic speaker in greenhouse. Credit: Dayo Jansen

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