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In the Alps you can't even go into a mid altitude wood without finding a tick or 2 walking on your dog. Hiking over 1600m is the only way to avoid them. I'm luc

In the Alps you can't even go into a mid altitude wood without finding a tick or 2 walking on your dog. Hiking over 1600m is the only way to avoid them. I'm lucky to have a dog with white fur, so I can see them before they bite but it's a constant battle. I wonder: 1. if we always had them. Probably not, I can't remember seeing that many in my childhood 2. if there's a way to get rid of those or we're forced to have this problem forever. Has anyone here ever thought of building an army of tick-detector robots powered by solar panels that can go around and grab as many ticks as possible?

tim58 7y ago
> Has anyone here ever thought of building an army of tick-detector robots powered by solar panels that can go around and grab as many ticks as possible? This reminds me of mosquito killing ideas my friends and I would come up with when camping in the south.
ghaff 7y ago
>if we always had them. Probably not, I can't remember seeing that many in my childhood Depends where. I'm talking dog ticks, not deer ticks, but growing up in Pennsylvania both the dogs and us kids would get covered with them (not exaggerating--talking two-digit numbers) in the meadow or woods.
i80and 7y ago
So this is actually plausible: the "nice" thing about ticks is that in their questing behavior, they'll grab onto anything that brushes their outstretched arms. Even if it's just permethrin-soaked cloth. https://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/blog/techflash/2015/03/tick-killing-robot-inventors-open-business-office.html https://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/blog/techflash/2015/03/... https://www.wdbj7.com/content/news/VMI-built-robot-will-hunt-ticks-in-Texas-414516493.html https://www.wdbj7.com/content/news/VMI-built-robot-will-hunt...
eigenloss 7y ago
1. Yes, Otzi had Lyme: https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms1701 https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms1701. However, it's possible tick populations were lower 50-100 years ago. 2. Yes. The main issue is that nobody wants to pay for the robots, although they're extremely effective: https://www.cnet.com/news/military-robot-deploys-co2-to-lure-ticks-to-their-doom/ https://www.cnet.com/news/military-robot-deploys-co2-to-lure..., https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/1594003/?arnumber=1594003 https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/1594003/?arnumber=15940...
tom_mellior 7y ago
> 1. if we always had them. Probably not, I can't remember seeing that many in my childhood Growing up in Austria we regularly got shots for tick-borne encephalitis (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tick-borne_encephalitis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tick-borne_encephalitis). Ticks not only existed but have been known to be problematic for quite some time.

tim58 7y ago

> Has anyone here ever thought of building an army of tick-detector robots powered by solar panels that can go around and grab as many ticks as possible? This reminds me of mosquito killing ideas my friends and I would come up with when camping in the south.

ghaff 7y ago

>if we always had them. Probably not, I can't remember seeing that many in my childhood Depends where. I'm talking dog ticks, not deer ticks, but growing up in Pennsylvania both the dogs and us kids would get covered with them (not exaggerating--talking two-digit numbers) in the meadow or woods.

i80and 7y ago

So this is actually plausible: the "nice" thing about ticks is that in their questing behavior, they'll grab onto anything that brushes their outstretched arms. Even if it's just permethrin-soaked cloth. https://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/blog/techflash/2015/03/tick-killing-robot-inventors-open-business-office.html https://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/blog/techflash/2015/03/... https://www.wdbj7.com/content/news/VMI-built-robot-will-hunt-ticks-in-Texas-414516493.html https://www.wdbj7.com/content/news/VMI-built-robot-will-hunt...

eigenloss 7y ago

1. Yes, Otzi had Lyme: https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms1701 https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms1701. However, it's possible tick populations were lower 50-100 years ago. 2. Yes. The main issue is that nobody wants to pay for the robots, although they're extremely effective: https://www.cnet.com/news/military-robot-deploys-co2-to-lure-ticks-to-their-doom/ https://www.cnet.com/news/military-robot-deploys-co2-to-lure..., https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/1594003/?arnumber=1594003 https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/1594003/?arnumber=15940...

tom_mellior 7y ago

> 1. if we always had them. Probably not, I can't remember seeing that many in my childhood Growing up in Austria we regularly got shots for tick-borne encephalitis (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tick-borne_encephalitis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tick-borne_encephalitis). Ticks not only existed but have been known to be problematic for quite some time.