After searching for local tick experts online, a Chesapeake, Virginia, resident came across Old Dominion University鈥檚 Tick Research Team.
In a message, the resident said she lives in a neighborhood called The Preserve on the Elizabeth, but she hasn鈥檛 been able to enjoy it because it鈥檚 overrun with ticks.
It鈥檚 a story the university researchers hear often, and typically, resident complaints are exaggerated. So Holly Gaff, a professor and department chair for biological sciences, visited the residential area. After investigating, Gaff realized the description was accurate.
The neighborhood was built on land that was once a natural preserve, and many residents moved there because of nearby nature trails. But few residents have been using them, because when they do, either they or their dogs return home covered with ticks.
Now, the researchers are testing whether their 鈥淭ickBot鈥� can offer a solution.
鈥淚 tend to explain it to people as the happy medium solution,鈥� said Darian Dean, research technician at the ODU Tick Research Team. 鈥淚t鈥檚 better than not doing anything at all, but we are also not going crazy and spraying the insecticide on every single inch.鈥�
The 鈥淭ickBot鈥� is a remote-controlled car that drags a white piece of denim cloth, which is treated with permethrin, behind it, according to Willow Baker, a biological sciences master鈥檚 student.
Permethrin is known to kill and deter ticks, so the car gets driven on the edge of a trail, and 鈥渨e see that it decreases tick populations for about the next 24 to 48 hours,鈥� Baker said.
鈥淲e鈥檙e testing it out in the neighborhood and hopefully using it, the neighborhood experiment specifically, to commercialize it in the future,鈥� Baker said.
The 鈥淭ickBot鈥� was created around 2010 and has been tested in a variety of places since. The concept, Gaff said, is less expensive and labor-intensive than other alternatives.
Because the chemical stays on the cloth, chemicals aren鈥檛 left in the environment, Gaff said. While that limits the scale it can be used for, it keeps the 鈥渂eneficial insects and other arthropods that you do want to keep in your neighborhoods.鈥�
The approach, Gaff said, could be described as a 鈥淩oomba effect.鈥�
鈥淵ou鈥檙e trying to clean your house, not because you know you鈥檒l never have dirt there again, but you鈥檙e just cleaning that little space, and then the dirt will come back the same way the ticks will come back or emerge from the ground, and you have to run it again to clean it again,鈥� Gaff said.
The current version of the 鈥淭ickBot鈥� costs about $800, and it also requires batteries, Gaff said. They鈥檙e working to find another group to help with the commercialization aspect, and the hope is to automate the tool so the RC car doesn鈥檛 have to be run manually.
The team started using the bot near the Chesapeake trails in April, and it could take at least three summers of doing research to determine its effectiveness.
Some of the trails are getting the TickBot treatment regularly, and others aren鈥檛, Dean said. Over time, they鈥檙e planning to evaluate whether there was less tick activity on trails treated with the TickBot.
鈥淭his tick burden is still going to be there, but the solutions are a lot closer than people might think,鈥� Dean said.
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