A QUICK and easy-to-use bed bug detector has been developed which can sniff out the minute insects – by detecting their farts.
The device has been developed at Daresbury, near Warrington, using technology used on the Rosetta space mission – the spacecraft which made history just over a year ago when it became the first to land on a comet.
One of the instruments on board the craft was a gas analyser the size of a shoebox which has now been adapted to become a handheld device which can quickly and cheaply detect the minute bodily gas emissions from bed bugs.
With bed bugs supposedly on the increase in the UK, the device is seen as useful to the hotel industry.
A bed bug infestation can cost a hotel thousands to rectify and severely damage its reputation.
Insect Research Systems is one of the first companies to move into the new Campus Technology Hub (CTH) at Sci-Tech, Daresbury, which provides small or start-up businesses with access to more than £2 million of advanced engineering technology.
The company used advanced 3D printing technology to develop the prototype for its handheld detection monitor that can sniff-out the chemical signatures of bed bugs in real time.
Taff Morgan, chief technical officer and co-founder of Insect Research Systems said: “Thanks to the technical support available at the Campus Technology Hub we have been able to optimise the design of our prototype and now have a product that we can demonstrate to future investors.
“This is extremely valuable to us in that we are developing our prototype significantly quicker and more cost effectively than through traditional routes.”
Taff Morgan and Jason Little of Insect Research ‘Systems. Picture: Gerard Giorgi-Coll.
