Mine Kafon

Minefields have been the cause for some of the worst casualties in war struck areas. The damage done by a mine is truly heart rendering. There have been a number of protests against using mines, but despite a number of celebrities lending their voice to the cause not much attention has been paid to the warnings by the war mongers.

What is worse is that even after the war is over mines are still around to cause damage. This is where the Mine Kafon, an unmanned drone is coming in to detonate minefields. Developed in the United Kingdom by the Find a Better Way charity led by Sir Bobby Charlton, the drone is a giant, biodegradable ball with bamboo spines.

This huge ball is light enough to be blown by the wind across the minefield and if its spine touches a mine it gets detonated. An on board GPS keeps track of the area where it has traveled. The mine kafon as it is called, is a simple enough to run gadget and does not have to rely on chemical leaching from a mine to spot it’s location.

This is one science project that will make it much easier to detonate existing mines and allow the locals to reclaim the land for more useful purposes.