Case Study

In Egypt, there are around 23 million buried landmines, and is therefore a region that can greatly benefit from our concept. The enormous number of buried landmines in Egypt has caused serious problems. According to the joint Egypt/UN Development Program (UNDP) project, the explosive remnants of wars has not only contaminated more than 2500 km2 of land, but has also blocked the access to resources such as natural gas and oil (more than 370 billion m3 and 4.8 billion barrels respectively). Additionally, a huge number of landmines were planted in arable land, which considerably reduced the yield of Egypt’s agriculture. Many have also been planted near the coast such that the potential tourism development is blocked.

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The Standard Operating Procedure


The Standard Operating Procedure, employed in Egypt and world over, is the only process that removes 100 per cent of buried landmines. However, it is an expensive procedure which costs between $1-$4 per m2. There are 4 steps to it: tripwire test (a flexible stick, approximately 1m, waved through grass), vegetation removal, hand held metal detector scanning, and prodding the ground. Only one deminer is in the danger area at any one time to search out any tripwires and scan the area with a metal detector, with the others 20m behind. However, with 50 deminers worldwide being killed by accidental detonation every year, this method carries a significant risk. Furthermore, the process is slow: metal detectors yield between 100-1000 false positives for every mine they detect. Moreover, rigorous safety precautions mean that two full days are needed for a two man team to cover 300m2 of land. The robot would replace this dangerous and slow procedure, keeping all deminers in the safe area.