Hanan Lepek, CEO and founder of Senecio Robotics has a vision, and that vision is becoming a reality: to establish green, biological mosquito control centers that insert thousands of mosquitos into cartridges. The system leverages digital imaging and AI to automate what has been a manual process until now and package sterilized male mosquitos on a commercial scale.
The strength of the solution lies in its simplicity - a production line for cartridges filled with sterile male mosquitos. Per Lepek, “Since only the females sting and transmit diseases, the idea is to release sterile male mosquitos who will act as smart bombs: locate the females and mate with them, without creating a future generation. Since the female mates only once in her lifetime, the local mosquito population will subside with the introduction of sterilized males. The method is already being used today, but the process of sorting and separating the males from the females, and loading them into cartridges for release, is done manually.”
“Even though this is one of the most promising methods for warding off mosquitos (resilience to sterilization cannot be developed), manually sorting males is reminiscent of industries from the previous century. The implication is that the cost of the final product - packaged sterile mosquitos - is high. To make this method commercially viable you need large quantities of mosquitos. Manually aggregating male mosquitos requires significant amounts of human resources and carries higher levels of on-going operational costs.”
“Simple, in essentially the same way Nabisco packages cookies, Senecio employs a production line to sort out male mosquitos. With our technology, we can transport millions of mosquitos on a single conveyor system. The system employs an innovative air suction feature that affixes mosquitos to the conveyor. During processing, high resolution digital cameras are used to capture images. From there, advanced algorithms are used to classify the gender of each mosquito. The females are removed, and the males are packaged in cartridges. These made-to-order cartridges are then stored until their designated pickup time, after which they will be distributed by the customer.”
“Senecio has comprehensive offering, from packaging to distribution to monitoring. Distribution can be done manually - simply opening a cartridge. Or, by using one of the company’s other release options: vehicles, drones, or aircraft. The aircraft release method was made possible with the support of an Israel Defense Prize Laureate and Senecio Robotics advisory board member, Prof. Rimon Arieli, and a generous grant from the BIRD foundation, an organization that supports collaboration between American and Israeli startups.”
“This is where our company’s groundbreaking technology comes into play. The Senecio system can scan and identify mosquitos coming in from field traps. Processing rates range from hundreds to even thousands of mosquitos per hour. In Israel, the Ministry of Health regularly monitors mosquito populations in a number of field locations. To determine which mosquitos have been trapped, skilled workers manually separate mosquitos one by one using forceps. From there, experienced technicians use microscopes to confirm identification and document their findings.
“Senecio streamlines this process for the experts by using AI to identify mosquitos as they pass along an imaging station. Human intervention is only required when the system is unable to recognize a particular mosquito. In these instances, the technical expert can access high-resolution images from the Senecio Cloud App. Each image requiring review is presented along with the associated trap data for a rapid determination. As one visitor from a Health Ministry stated, “It’s a little like the difference between an old rotary telephone and an iPhone”. Once a person is using an automated system it will be hard for them to go back to a manual identification system.
The road to the end goal, says Lepek, was long and winding. “We are lucky to have an American Board of Directors comprised of experienced entrepreneurs who have headed and developed successful companies. The Senecio board members possess extensive experience in the fields of software, agriculture and biotechnology. One of our strengths is our rich patent portfolio, managed by one of the leading firms in the country, Ehrlich & Fenster, which harbors dozens of inventions worth millions of shekels in investments, accumulated over the years. An extensive range of patents pertaining to monitoring, sorting, separation (larvae/pupae/adults), packaging, distribution, etc., has been patented.
Among our investors is Pareto VC, a Miami investment company founded by the founder of stock image giant Shutterstock; Canadian philanthropist John MacBain’s Pamoja Capital; Miami based Ocean Azul Partners and well-known Israeli agricultural investors such as Dr. Gal Yarden and Eyal Ben-Chanoch.”
MacBain was Lepek’s personal mentor at the Creative Destruction Labs accelerator in Oxford, UK. “It’s an incubator that handpicks deep-tech startups for exclusive acceleration programs,” explains Lepek. “While working together, MacBain decided to come on board as an investor. At the same time, we successfully completed three programs offered by the Israel Innovation Authority. Each time, our progress was ratified, thanks to our stable technological foundation and financial potential.”
Today, the company’s systems can be found in Florida and California, and soon in Louisiana and other states. Senecio Robotics was recently accepted into the EU’s prestigious Horizon 2020 program, which offers an investment of up to $10M. As part of the program, Senecio Robotics is currently in the final construction stages of a factory in Israel’s Sharon region. The factory is expected to produce millions of mosquitos per week. The company is also currently negotiating with several entities, working towards commercial operations.
“Currently, our company is a 20-person crew comprised of software engineers, image processing experts, mechanics, entomologists and operations specialists. Senecio recently added a US presence and we will continue to expand. In addition to winning various grants, two years ago we won first place at an AI Startup competition. Our current objective is increasing our revenue stream and realizing a 7-digit sales goal. Leading international entities have contacted us after trying other automation solutions. Our industrial approach is the only financially viable solution on the market, and we realize that we’ve built something that has enormous potential.
“We recently participated in a visit from a UN delegation to Israel. The visit was organized by Israel’s representative to the UN, Mr. Gilad Arden, in collaboration with Start-Up Nation Central. We were pleased to see delegates’ enthusiasm as they realized the potential impact Senecio could have in countries around the world. From the US and Europe to countries facing greater challenges from mosquitos such as Brazil and Africa. It really sparks the imagination and moves us one step closer towards our vision, along with a proven business model.”
“We’re always excited to meet others who want to join us on our journey.”
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Senecio Robotics
Established 2014
CEO: Hanan Lepek
Location: Kfar Saba
Number of employees: 20
Contact: Hanan@senecio-robotics.com
