UK professors create lamps that trap flies

Ever heard of a lampshade that can trap flies and use them to power itself at home? Sounds bizarre but it’s true.

This unique lamp has holes in it and they have been designed in a manner in which pests enter the holes but cannot come out.

These pests are guided into a fuel cell in the lamp which converts them into electricity.And during night time when one goes off to sleep, the lamp turns off itself. But it can use its ultraviolet source to attract pests even in the dark.

Two United Kingdom professors Jimmy Loizeau and James Auger have designed five different kinds of domestic carnivorous robots for homes that can take care of various  types of pests present in furniture, clock, table etc. Apart from the lampshade robot, the other designs include mouse trap combined with coffee table robot, flypaper combined with robotic clock, fly stealing robot (pure entertainment robot) and fly killer parasite robot.

Loizeau is a faculty at Goldsmiths College, University of London and James Auger, faculty at Royal College of Arts, University of London. “It has taken us about a year to design these robots. But we are not going into commercialisation of these products. We want that our products should be discussed, debated and talked about and help in making such future products,” the duo remarked while interacting with a section of the media here on Thursday.

Both of them are in India on the invitation of British Council and have interacted with students in Mumbai and Chennai before arriving in Pune.

On Thursday evening they gave a demonstration and a lecture at MMCIA about these unique robots.

“The project explores how through the medium of speculative design there could be new ways of building robots. By viewing the robot as a product rather than a technology it creates a whole different set of rules and expectations than those which currently direct robot development,” remarked Auger. Loizeau said one needs  to introduce new ways of thinking about robots, relationships and interactions with them and see them not just as visions or demos but as real things in the homes.

In reply to a question, the professors praised Indian students terming them as ‘extremely inquisitive’. “The students quizzed us extensively on different aspects of our work. It seemed to us that Indian students are really interested in innovations and research,” the professors remarked.