Three Ghanaian students have built a robotic mosquito repellent to curb the activities of the malaria-spreading insect. The Biomedical Engineering students of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Ghana are currently in their second year.

 

Joana Owusu-Appiah, Selinam Fiadjo and Danielle Asare are the three female innovators. They call the robot ‘Anquito’, derived from putting the words, ‘anti’ and ‘mosquito’ together. The students thought the activities of mosquitos were not adequately curbed in public spaces.

 

They said,

“We realise there are so many measures to kill mosquitoes. But we thought to ourselves, is it a problem of mosquitoes living or the fact that they’re in our space?”

 

The girls thought that it is not enough to get protected in our houses when the mosquitos can still bite outside.

 

“Somebody is in his room with mosquito coil and net, but when there is a light-out, he goes out for fresh air and gets bitten. What can we do for people who are outside their rooms and getting fresh air?”

 

The Anquito robotic mosquito repellent is programmed to emit ultrasonic sounds. These sounds are almost inaudible to the human ears. It emits 38 kilohertz of sound that is loud enough to ward off mosquitos. It also has sensors that stop and change direction upon facing an obstacle.

 

Aside: Did you know that Dubstep music can protect you from mosquito bites?

 

 

Different fields use ultrasound technology to detect objects and measure distance and often used it medical to carry out scans.

 

The KNUST students intend to create more of the machine and improve the technology using artificial intelligence to make the robots smarter.

 

Malaria is still a problem in Africa. Year after year, more technology is being employed to treat control the spread of it. The World Health Organisation announced recently that it was rolling out the first malaria vaccine to children from three African countries this year, Ghana inclusive.