Spy Technology ‘Listens’ For Insects

Spy Technology ‘Listens’ For Insects University of Wisconsin researcher Emily Bick can hear bugs chomping on crops with her Insect Eavesdropper. Its sensitive microphone records minute sounds, and the integrated computer differentiates and identifies the insect making them. While she’s continuing to refine the device, it has the potential to revolutionize crop scouting and pest control. “It’s currently a research project; however, we’re starting licensing agreements and will be incorporating a start-up company in September,” says Bick. “We’ll be taking requests to see where it works the best, but commercial production is still two years out.” Bick first got the idea when she learned about spy agencies attaching microphones to walls to pick up vibrations, which they then translated into speech. In 2023, she attached microphones to plants in the lab infested with Colorado potato beetles and tobacco hornworms. “They’re large and noisy, and we were able to detect both insects based on feeding sounds,” says Bick. Her research team achieved similar results, detecting tiny second instar European corn borers as they fed on corn leaves before boring into the stems. The same technique captured the sounds of northern corn rootworm beetles in the soil as they fed on roots. Differentiating and identifying the species from the sound files was just as important as detection. In only two short years, the technology has been refined to identify pests in seconds. The contact sensors can be attached to any plant part to locate pests above and below ground. “Our lab at the University of Wisconsin is working on corn pests, Japanese beetles in soybeans, and potato leafhoppers in alfalfa,” says Bick. “We’re also working with researchers on issues like coconut hispid beetles in the Maldives, three-cornered alfalfa hoppers in California, soybean aphids in Minnesota, and apple pests in New York state.” What she’s already learned about corn rootworms is amazing. Sounds recorded include the larvae banging and crunching on the corn root tissue. The banging reveals if there’s enough sugar to continue eating or if there are toxins to avoid. The Insect Eavesdropper is being tested on a wide variety of pests at more than 20 other academic labs and evaluated at multiple crop input companies. “Resistance to Bt traits in commercial seed is expanding, and it would be extremely helpful to know if and when the trait is failing,” says Bick. “Agrichemical companies are interested in using the technology to screen products they’re working on.” Crop producers may see benefits even sooner. Instead of paying for seed traits that may or may not work, or spraying insecticides based on predicted damaging infestations, they’ll know the pests are present. Soon, they may know how many are present and what damage is being done. “This summer we’ll try to find out if we can relate sounds to insect density or feeding damage,” says Bick. “Finding thresholds for farmers to use before applying synthetic or organic controls is top of mind to make the Insect Eavesdropper as useful as possible.” Bick notes that entomologists’ use of microphones is nothing new, stretching back to the early 1900s. “Before this, while sounds could be picked up, they were unidentifiable,” says Bick. “Our algorithms added structure to the data to make sense of the sound files. In our initial research, we achieved upwards of 96% accuracy.” The availability of Piezo contact microphones that pick up vibrations, combined with very low-cost Raspberry Pi computers and machine learning, has made the Insect Eavesdropper economically viable. “The Raspberry Pi costs $45,” says Bick. “The four contact microphones per device cost $3 each, and we 3D printed the box that contains everything.” Bick’s current version of the Insect Eavesdropper costs about $120. She expects to see that eventually fall to around $15. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Dr. Emily Bick, 537 Russell Labs, 1630 Linden Dr., Madison, Wis. 53706 (ph 608-262-3854; ebick@wisc.edu; www.bicklab.com).

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