Finally, the Flying Pest Extermination Robots of Our Dreams Have Arrived

The Duskin Corporation of Osaka, Japan has completed testing on their first anti-wasp extermination drone.

Japan's wasp hives are famously dangerous, causing anywhere from 10 to 20 fatalities in those removing their hives.

The hands-on process of elimination has been improved with the aircraft, allowing multi-story, high-altitude infestations to be removed with no risk to the occupants. 

The test hive was located in the eaves of a 2-story warehouse in the mountainous city of Yabu,a perfect target to gauge the efficacy of Duskin's creation. The pest control and cleaning company began developing the drones in 2020, conducting demonstration tests for local prefecture governments and the New Industry Research Organization in Kobe. Duskin's work with Ishikawa Energy Research led to a few variants of the UAV, one being a vaccum-equipped model that sucks up insects, increasing its target profile for the hive as it is coated by compounding amounts of wasps' alarm pheromones.

The longer the drone hovers near a hive, the greater the target it becomes for the insects, luring them into perfect range for its vacuum intake. 

One of the developers involved in the project, Kazuki Hayashi, said their drone model fares better than other other models because of its unorthodox vacuum. "Unlike drones for spraying pesticides, ones (for extermination) are used for precision work, so we achieved stable flight with our unique programming." Their drone program could prove to be more popular than expected, said local authorities. The requested consultations for wasp extermination were some of the highest in the nation, reportedly a consequence of ever-increasing numbers of foreign wasp species spreading throughout the region. 

FMI: www.duskin.co.jp