Last November at Entomology 2023 saw the return of the Antlion Pit, an innovation competition for entomology-related products and services. Six teams were selected to compete out of nine applications, with the “Insect Eavesdropper” team earning 1st Place and a $5,000 prize to invest in advancing their product, a system using a contact microphone and a minicomputer to detect and identify the vibrational signals of insects feeding on plants.
The creators of the Insect Eavesdropper are Emily Bick, Ph.D., BCE-Intern, assistant professor in the Department of Entomology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Dev Mehrotra, master’s student in computer science working in Bick’s lab at UW.
Entomology Today connected with Bick and Mehrotra for a Q&A to learn more about Insect Eavesdropper and its development.