Robo-Tic: Development of a Tick-Eliminating Robot

Abstract

Tick bites are a calculated risk of enjoying outdoor activities; yet in certain geographic regions, deer ticks are more likely than not infected with Lyme disease even to the extent that some medical journals recommend physicians automatically begin antibiotic treatment following bites in high-risk areas regardless of a patient's symptoms. There exists no Lyme vaccine approved for use in humans, and annual reported cases in people are rising with the spread of infected ticks across the northeast United States.Undergraduate electrical and mechanical engineering students from the Virginia Military Institute (VMI) have developed a tick-control robot that uses biomimicry to encourage ticks to attach to a pesticide-infused fabric patch. A prototype was found to remove 45 ± 4 out of 50 ticks seeded in a small and noncontrolled study by Woulfe et al. A ruggedized prototype was next developed by engineering students from both VMI and Washington & Lee University capable of withstanding a multiweek controlled study by an independent environmental testing laboratory while students from Wake Forest University examined how to commercialize the device.