15,000 to 20,000 people—predominantly women, children, and the elderly—die from landmines every year. These explosive man-traps have been used in every major military conflict since 1938 and some 110 million mines are still spread over 78 countries worldwide. What’s more, they remain functional decades after a conflict has ended and civilians return to the area. The results are dismemberment if you’re lucky, death if you’re not.
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Though it looks like a weapon from a generic machines vs man sci-fi movie, the Mine Kafon is actually a genius landmine clearer. Designed by Massoud Hassani, all you have to do is push the tentacle ball into a field of landmines and it can trigger mines to safely explode. More »
Red Lotus Technologies is now refining and pitching its PETALS technology for real-world use around the world. Short for Pattern Enhancement Tool for Assisting Landmine Sensing, the system connects acoustic sensors to smartphones, outputting a silhouette of what lies below onto the phone’s screen. The company has expanded from an initial research project that paired mine-detecting sensors with the processing clout (and availability of) smartphones. It’s now developed some tablet-based training equipment for de-miners and, working alongside the Landmine Relief Fund, aims to field-test the devices in Cambodia before launching them next year.
Filed under: Cellphones, Misc, Software, Mobile
Smartphone-powered mine detectors readied for field-testing in Cambodia (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 08 Sep 2012 03:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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