HOW ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IS CHANGING EVERYTHING — EVEN YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH YOUR EXTERMINATOR
Artificial Intelligence (AI) and IoT (Internet of Things) are becoming so embedded in our daily lives that many of us are starting to take these breakthrough technologies for granted.
In just a few short years we’ve gone from using a variety of ‘dumb’ solutions to leveraging ‘smart’ doorbells, interconnected security cameras, intelligent thermostats, connected ovens and even wifi-enabled water heaters.
Even today’s basic home or office is ‘smarter’ than we could have imagined just 10 years ago.
Now imagine the same logic behind the sophisticated solutions that enhance home security, lower our energy bills and provide us peace of mind, being applied to address the age-old problem of pest control.
Enter a couple of distinguished IT engineers who have worked on solving some of the most complex product design and AI questions of the day, combined with a desire to solve scores of real-world pest issues that plague many parts of the globe, and you have a cost-effective patented set of solutions that are set to change the pest control industry forever.
The key is both a low-cost intelligent platform that monitors for pest activity and leverages AI to identify and address issues before they become a problem, and a humane no-touch no-see internet-connected “better mouse trap” that eliminates the need for environmentally-damaging poisons, unsightly messes and provides consumers and pest control companies alerts and ongoing actionable data.
For residential applications this means placing discrete internet-connected smart sensors and intelligent traps in attics, garages and other areas where pest activity occurs, and for commercial and industrial settings, flexible form factors and connectivity options offer a wide range of inexpensive alternatives far beyond the traditional pest control approach.
The benefits of these evolving and low-cost AI-based solutions is that they provide an unprecedented level of protection and peace of mind for both residential and commercial clients, while improving customer acquisition and retention rates and driving greater efficiencies in supply-chain, labor and dispatching for pest control companies. This translates to higher value and lowered costs across the board.
The bottom line is that AI and IoT in pest control are here to stay and are transforming the way we deal with the critters and creepy crawlies that have been with us for a very long time.
And, of course, there is now an app for that.
Roger Hollander is an investor in Katcher, LLC (katcher.com), a patented artificial intelligence-based pest control technology platform based in Austin, Texas.
The opinions expressed above are solely those of the author.