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Tick-Eating Robots Going to International Competition with VMI Team

Tick-eating robot
Photo thanks: J. Occi, (PhD cand) LDA Scientific & Prof. Advisory Board

The tick rover, a robot designed to remove and kill ticks from people’s yards, and a longtime project for Col. Jim Squire, Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Virginia Military Institute, has won an award. The tick-eating robot traps ticks hiding on bushes and has been field-tested by biologists. A team of four cadets made improvements to the rover over the winter and then entered it into a contest sponsored by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). Their tick-eating robot defeated several teams from the nation’s top research universities and will represent the United States and Canada in the international IEEE competition in Seville, Spain. Next, the team hopes to license the robot and collaborate with a Dartmouth neuroscientist who wants to start a company based on it. Read more on Virginia Military Institute’s website. Read more about ticks, Lyme disease and the military on LDA’s website.