Spotta – Find Bed Bugs Before Your Guests Do | Hacker News Reader

Spotta – Find Bed Bugs Before Your Guests Do

spotta.co

49 pointsbelter23 comments

So glad that tech companies are finally starting to address this, having bed bugs some ten years ago was the worst experience of my life so far. Valpas https://valpashotels.com/ is another option.

Looks like they're using LoRa for communications from the sensors.

FCC ID: https://fccid.io/2AYCHPODB000-07-206

How can they transmit a photo over LoRa?

After watching some of the recent "bug infestations" on TV, I think that is important to remind that

1) there are more than 100000 species of bugs. Just because you find a bug in your room does not mean that is a bed bug or that you will need to set the house on fire. Some bugs explore houses at fall in a search for good places to hibernate. They are just wild animals, not unlike finding a sparrow at home. If is a green insect, just open the window, invite the nezara to go out, and save yourself the trouble of sleeping in a cocktail of toxics.

2) Some bugs are social or form groups to hibernate. Just because you find 20 bugs in your window or under a bark does not mean that the bugocalypse has started. Repeat the previous procedure.

3) This was a hot year. Expect more hibernating visitors.

4) Some of the bugocalypse cases depicted on TV show common species of plant bugs that don't eat humans.

Question: how long does it take for bedbugs to go into these traps?

I.e., how long after placing the traps do you know whether you are safe or not?

Another option:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/04/france-to-depl...

I worked in a hospital that used dogs for bed bug inspections. They’d come every few weeks and walk through the building. It was interesting because people would be gush over the cute dogs until they took an interest in your work area. then it was oh god these dogs are harbingers of doom! And the poor dogs never got pet because everyone was scared they had bedbugs on them even though they were apparently combed after every site visit so the operators wouldn’t get bedbugs themselves

They were impressively accurate though. I did psychotherapy and because of those dogs I had to have 2 couches removed from my office. Yet they were implemented fast enough that I never personally had an issue at home. Although I was deeply paranoid of it for months after and was happy to leave that setting

This is going to lead to some weird data breeches, probably also some very weird faked data breeches.

Do any commercial domestic solutions exist?

This is good, but housekeeping staff should be the first line of defense. The person cleaning the room should be able to spot an infestation.

As far as I am aware they are mostly active at night and hide in crevices and mattress during the day.

So trained staff may spot them but it is entirely likely that an infestation can go unnoticed until a costumer complains.

They can show up in other ways. I noticed when my plain-color sheets suddenly developed polka-dots overnight. Turns out, it was my own blood. They'd engorge themselves, then I'd roll over and squish 'em.

Exterminator told me: "That's one of the worst we've seen. We'll send somebody out next weekend. Until then, keep sleeping there otherwise they'll go looking for food and get into your walls."

Do not recommend.

Putting a camera and microphone in customers' rooms is an absolute no-go for me. Downright creepy.

Where does it say anything about a microphone?

From a quick glance at their site, it looks like a bed bug trap with a sensor (probably weight) in it that broadcasts the presence of bugs inside the trap via LoRA. There's no microphone, no camera, and it doesn't even connect to WiFi.

EDIT: Seems like there is a camera involved, but it's inside the enclosed trap.

how does this work?

"If a bug crawls inside, a small camera takes a picture and sends it over the internet to a central database. A combination of artificial intelligence software and the human eye confirms whether a bedbug has indeed been caught. If so, a mobile phone alert warning is sent to relevant managers."

If there are any attractants inside, there are going to be a lot of false negatives.

They take a photo.

That's what I mean, someone is going to have to review many, many photos. Sure they can leverage AI, but a single type II error at a hotel and they are chucking every single sensor.

It seems like that's probably why they're offering it as a service for businesses where humans check the images rather than simply selling devices for $20 each or something like that?

If it helps catch other bugs, that seems like a good thing.

https://youtu.be/arfEEuf7psc

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