Insect Positioning for Classification and/or Image Capture Utilizing Static Electricity

Unmet Need
Insect evaluation has always had a very dated methodology for positioning done by entomologists and researchers. This evaluation is typically done through visual analysis, image capture and analysis, or PCR. Unfortunately, insects are fragile, especially those that are deceased and have dried out even before evaluation has taken place. In addition, tweezers, which are currently used to position insects, can injure or damage the specimen. Tweezers are also a tedious and time consuming instrument to use for insect positioning especially if there are hundreds of insects to evaluate. There is a need for static fields for capturing, manipulating, and killing live insects to be implemented to allow for more comprehensive, efficient, and accurate evaluation and analysis. In addition, there may be a need for static electricity to aid in placement and movement of deceased or immobile insects. Specific to the analysis, there is a need to manipulate the large numbers of deceased insects automatically.

Technology Overview
The inventors have proposed a method of utilizing static electricity to manipulate the transportation and positioning of deceased insects. They have proposed an electrostatic probe that has several mechanisms and modalities to address several unmet needs outlined above. There are three modalities for this to be used. The first area of use is to replace the need for tweezers by utilizing a static rod or wand that has applied static to a PCV rod and held near the ground to attract and place the mosquito/insect. The second modality is to create a surface with charged points that holds the insect there for imaging without visually obscuring the insect. The third embodiment is a larger surface with more charged points that would take into account a large number of insects that can be placed and dumped while also having a vibrational component that holds them into place by attracting them to a charged point. This allows an even spread of individual mosquitoes for image capture and classification, contributing to the growth in research of automated tracking of single insects in a large number of insect groups. As assumed, these modalities address several unmet needs regarding efficiency, ease in technique, preserving insect bodies, and automated tracking of insects.

Stage of Development
The inventors have proposed a methodology to position insects for classification and image capture utilizing static electricity.
 

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