Pied Piper

The Legend of the Pied Piper Lives On…

I am the research mentor for three undergraduate engineering students designing a cool alternative to harmful pesticides in agriculture using - sound! Insects are able to spread diseases that infect agricultural crops, like grapevines, and can reduce both the yields and quality of the yield they produce. Information on the activity patterns of these insects is little understood, yet valuable, because it can be used for developing and testing methods of controlling their populations, and for better understanding the effects that they have on their host plants. The Pied Piper device is a vibrational sonic and camera trap for autonomously capturing and monitoring the activity patterns of North American Alfalfa Treehoppers, which are agricultural pests. These Treehoppers are able to spread Red Blotch Disease, which can devastate grape yields. It works by detecting the vibrational mating calls of male treehoppers using a contact microphone (and associated electronics, signal processing, and detection algorithm), and then playing back an artificial female mating call using a vibration exciter to lure them closer to the trap, where they can then be imaged using an onboard camera. The device records the exact time and audio responsible for each positive detection, which allows it to produce much higher-resolution temporal data on the times of maximum insect activity versus a traditional mechanical or adhesive trap. We are also currently experimenting with BSMB, also known as stinkbugs, which wreak havoc in hazelnuts.