Summer nights should be all about fireflies and backyard BBQs, not playing whack-a-mole with mosquitoes that seem to have it out for you. Meet the Photon Matrix, a gadget that feels like it was ripped straight from a sci-fi movie, built to hunt down and fry mosquitoes with pinpoint laser accuracy. Developed by Jim Wong, this thing claims it can take out up to 30 mosquitoes a second.
The main technology is LiDAR, in which it uses to sweep a room in just three milliseconds, zeroing in on mosquitoes by their size, flight path, and speed. If it spots something between 2 and 20 millimeters crawling along slower than 1 meter per second, a laser guided by a galvanometer blasts it out of the air. “Using LiDAR to detect and lasers to zap mosquitoes is a total game-changer,” brags the project’s Indiegogo page.
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Lasers can be sketchy, so safety’s a big deal here. The Photon Matrix uses millimeter-wave radar to spot humans or pets nearby, keeping the laser off if anything bigger than a bug is in the way. It’s also IP68-rated, meaning it’s dustproof and can survive a dunk in water up to 1.5 meters for half an hour—great for setting up on your porch or under a canopy. “Safety’s the heart of this thing,” says Jim Wong. You can plug it into a wall or run it off an optional battery for 8 to 16 hours, depending on the model.
It comes in two flavors: the Basic Edition, with a 3-meter range covering 7 square meters, and the Pro Edition, stretching to 6 meters and 28 square meters. Both are sleek and tough, made from aluminum alloy and tempered glass. The Basic is a compact 18 x 8 x 6 cm and 850 grams, while the Pro’s a bit bigger at 20 x 8.5 x 6 cm and 1 kg. Add an optional rotating base, and you get a full 360-degree scan instead of the standard 90, perfect for wide-open spaces.
Crowdfunding can be a gamble, and the Photon Matrix has its skeptics. This is Jim Wong’s first Indiegogo rodeo, with no company name attached—just a guy with a prototype. The campaign’s pulled in nearly $200,000 from over 350 backers, but folks are wondering if it’s really ready for prime time. Can it tell a mosquito from a helpful pollinator like a bee or moth? It targets bugs by wingbeat frequency, which might help, but some worry about zapping the good guys by mistake. “I’m not sold it can pick out mosquitoes from other bugs,” one online commenter grumbled.
Price is another sticking point. The Basic Edition goes for $468, the Pro for $629, though early-bird deals cut that down a bit. Retail prices will jump to $697 and $897, which stings when you compare it to the Bzigo Iris, a laser tracker that points out mosquitoes for you to swat, already out there for $199.
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