For people around the world landmines are a daily hazard, threatening lives and providing a lethal reminder of long-finished conflicts.
But, a project based in the Netherlands might have a solution. The Mine Kafon drone flies above potentially dangerous areas, generating a 3D map, and using a metal detector to pinpoint the location of mines. The drone can then place a detonator above the mines, before retreating to a safe distance.
“Let’s have a landmine free-world,” says Massoud Hassani, Founder of Mine Kafon and Hassani Design. “Because one less landmine means one safe life.”
The UN estimates that 15,000 to 20,000 people are killed every year by landmines. Currently, mines have to be individually removed by mine disposal experts – at an estimated cost of $300-1000 per mine.
But the Mine Kafon drone developed by Hassani and his team could make the process much quicker, safer and cheaper.
“The Mine Kafon drones [are] up to 20 times faster than the traditional technologies,” says Hassani who moved to the Netherlands from Afghanistan in 1998, “It is safer and up to 200 times cheaper.”
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