Gadgets: Origins' Laser Egg Provides Super-Accurate AQI Readings

Beijing’s air pollution is an expensive problem. The Chinese government has devoted tens of millions of renminbi to air quality monitoring, and the US government has spent USD 25,000 alone for the AQI reader at its Beijing embassy. But for the price of that single American sensor, an entire network of 300 of far more affordable sensors can be purchased, allowing Beijingers to track pollution in real time and know where they can go for a breath of fresh air.

That’s the notion being put forth by Liam Bates, the founder of Origins, a Beijing-based startup that sells highly sensitive air quality monitors for under RMB 400 each, and is readying a mobile app to be launched in early June that can show users the results of those readings.

Dubbed the Laser Egg, this monitor shows AQI levels in the immediate vicinity. The palm-sized dome shaped device looks like an all-white miniature version of R2-D2, and virtually all aspects of design are similarly futuristic. The way it works, however, is brilliantly simple. A little gap at the top of its dome allows air to flow inside. Once the air enters the Egg it comes across an interior laser, causing that beam to refract in several different directions. A sensor rests under the laser, and the amount of refracted light hitting that reader, allows it to determine the size of the pollution particles in the air.

Click through to read our interview with Bates in which he explains to us why the Laser Egg is a big step up from your regular in-house AQI reader.

This post is sponsored by Origins, maker of the Laser Egg.