Not only are mosquitoes extremely annoying, they can also carry deadly diseases like malaria, yellow fever, dengue, and the Zika virus. In order to prevent epidemics, Pranav Agarwal has developed the Solar Scare Mosquito — a solar-powered repellent device that allows the insects to lay their larvae at dusk and dawn, then produces intermittent ripples during the day to prevent the offspring from breathing at the surface of standing water.

A finalist in this year’s Hackaday Prize, Agarwal is currently developing the second version of the platform that will be able to sense mosquito presence via a built-in microphone, and even help determine the sex and type of the pest by its wingbeat frequency.

An Arduino MKR GSM 14000 controls the Solar Square Mosquito and provides IoT communication capabilities, with the goal of alerting affected populations to potential outbreaks using a smartphone app.