The company debuted in the market this year with the Insect Eavesdropper, which picks up on the vibrations that travel through the plant to not only detect active infestations but identify the type of pests within.
It is working to develop a commercial version of the Insect Eavesdropper, which would simplify deployment for potential customers.
“The current prototype needs to be calibrated and that means someone from the team has to be on the ground to do that. We want something that’s plug and play so we will be able to ship out units, and our customers can deploy it without needing us to be on site,” said chief executive Jadey Huray.
“Right now, everything is so high-touch, and it costs so much to deploy on each project. Phase two will be about being able to sell it off-the-shelf. We also want to make sure there is power stability, the units don’t fail, and the microphones are calibrated so that they all work the same way.”
“BugBug 2.0″
Recently, BugBug was among four winners of the National Centre for Palms and Dates’ (NCPD) International Prize for New Product Development category.
The company beat out over 200 applicants to clinch the award, which awarded a U$100,000 prize. The prize money will go towards its plans to build its new prototype and expand the team.
With a new and improved “commercial version” of the Insect Eavesdropper, the company will be able to conduct more field tests to strengthen its data sets. Previously, it was tested on more than 25 insects and 15 crops.
In particular, the company will focus trials on grapes and sugarcane, targeting its two key markets – Europe and Asia.
“The goal right now is to look at what’s most viable and most replicable. That’s why we are focusing on two target crops this year – grapes and sugarcane – as they are important, high-value crops. These make the most sense because the potential cost savings are very high because across the board, about 40% of crops are lost to pests,” said Huray, who also serves as director of Gunung Madu Plantations located in Sumatra, Indonesia.
Consistent, precise monitoring
In addition, the company hopes to work with companies to test out new products such as biopesticides or crop varieties.
“Typically, these companies hire an entomologist with a net to collect the insects and calculate how effective their new pesticide or variety is. That’s not very cost effective. Then there are camera traps or automated conventional systems, but these solutions are not very reliable… These are not as precise as we believe our device has the potential to be,” said Huray.
Furthermore, the company will be able to offer long-term monitoring, while most competing solutions tend to conduct snapshots or “single point in time measurements”.
“When people go in to test a crop, they might spend 50 seconds checking and then report whether an insect is present or absent. But insects don’t really work that way. Like us, they have circadian rhythms – they sleep, they hibernate, they feed – and each species behaves differently. We aim to provide fixed, long-term monitoring so we can show where the insects are and how they’re behaving,” said Huray.
