Taking AI-m At Mosquitoes

Over Coffee® | Stories and Resources from the Intersection of Art and Science | Exploring How to Make STEAM Work For You

Ben Resnick displays Bzigo at Eureka Park™ during CES® 2020, Las Vegas. We remember summers on the East Coast. Sun-soaked days, blooming roses, fireflies. Plus itchy, fiery mosquito bites that lasted for weeks. But we had the "easy" part. According to the World Health Organization, malaria led to more than 400,000 deaths, globally, in 2019. Many of the victims were children under the age of five. Israel-based startup Bzigo is preparing to attack the mosquito problem with artificial intelligence. During CES® 2020, in Las Vegas prior to the pandemic, Bzigo Marcom Manager Ben Resnick was onsite in the Eureka Park™ startup area. We chatted briefly about the prototype he was exhibiting: an artificial-intelligence based system that pinpoints mosquitoes' exact location. A Now that 2021 is here, Bzigo is getting ready to ship their first devices! Ben talked about the process of creating Bzigo, offered a preview of the way it works and shared some surprising facts about putting an end to mosquitoes. On this edition of Over Coffee® we cover: The story behind Bzigo; How a talented teacher first inspired Ben to become an innovator; Ben's path to getting involved with the Bzigo project; How the device works; What the technology is doing, based on mosquitoes' behavior; A preview of the device scheduled for rollout later this year, and its planned generation-two upgrade; When to expect the first generation of the device, this year; The personal experience behind Ben's commitment to eradicating biting insects; Ben's vision for the future, and the additional areas in which this AI technology can work against biting insects.