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Robots to Rid Us of Cockroaches?
unassimilatible writes "It behaves like a cockroach. It smells like a cockroach. It is accepted by other cockroaches. But it is not a cockroach. It is a robot and scientists say its invention is a breakthrough in mankind's struggle to control the animal kingdom. The Sunday Times is reporting on a cool form of robotics, impersonating (inanimalnating?) animals. Leurre is a project on building and controlling mixed societies composed of animals and artificial agents. Within a decade, its inventors believe, it will be leading the unwanted pests out of dark kitchen corners, to where they can be eliminated. Additionally, they say they will soon be using robots to stop sheep jumping off cliffs and to encourage chickens to take exercise. Schematics, tools, and pictures here. Apparently, cockroaches do not wear tinfoil hats, as they are not smart enough to be suspicious of box-shaped circuit boards with an antennae sticking out."
Put a piece of banana in the bottom of a mason jar, and poke small holes in the lid. They'll find their way in there. Or do a search for fruit fly cultures on Google. Owners of Poison Dart Frogs usually breed their own cultures of wingless fruit flies as food. If you make the cultures, it produces CO2 that you would normally get rid of, but in this case leave it in and when the flies go to eat or lay eggs they'll asphyxiate.
Better method: Open bottle with some red wine in it. The flies get in but never get out. This was the standard trick to catch escapees in our fly genetics lab... Of course we had to prepare fresh, nearly empty red wine bottles every now and then...
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The first rule of Robot Fight Club is, you do not talk about Robot Fight Club.
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
1. Buy a bottle of boric acid powder from your local pharmacy (costs about $2 USD).
2. Mix equal parts of the above with sugar, and add a little water to bind them together into a thick paste. Ideally, it should be thick enough to form balls that can be easily cleaned up later if necessary.
3. Place the paste in dark places where you think roaches congregate. Wait 1-2 weeks for all roaches to disappear.
The boric acid is poisonous to both ants and roaches. The beauty of this poison is that the roaches succumb in their hiding places, where other roaches will eat the remains and also subsequently die. It spreads like a virus!
My mom has used this effectively in Western Africa, and it has worked for me in the Deep South.
Boric acid is, from what I've heard, much less toxic to people and pets than the alternative sprays that must be reapplied every few months.
You clearly don't live in an urban environment.
Here in New York, despite regular visits by the exterminator, I still have cockroaches now and then. Sure, most of them are tiny and probably never grow to adulthood. I only see a few adult ones a year, but they are there.
I don't read or respond to AC posts