An Afghan designer and former refugee has developed a low-cost, wind-powered mine detonating device inspired by the toys he played with as a child. Massoud Hassani’s Mine Kafon is composed almost entirely from bamboo and biodegradable plastics, with a skeletal structure of spiky plungers that resembles a giant spherical tumbleweed from another planet. At 70 kilograms, Hassani says his invention is light enough to be propelled by a normal breeze, while still being heavy and big enough – 190cm in diameter – to activate mines as it rolls over them.

Massoud Hassani escaped Afghanistan when he was 14-years-old. But he returned to put his inventions to work, to cheaply sweep for hundreds of landmines still hidden in his country.

According to the U.N., there are more than 110 million active mines scattered across 70 countries, with an equal number stockpiled around the world still waiting to be planted.

“The core sphere that contains the GPS system is high enough from the ground to avoid damage from most anti-personnel mines,” explained Hassani.

Meanwhile, manual diffusion by trained mine-clearing experts remains the most common method of removal globally, according to the Landmine Monitor, an industry publication published by the International Campaign to Ban Landmines. But this method can be prohibitively expensive – in some cases it costs thousands of dollars to clear just a single mine. By contrast, Hassani claims the Mine Kafon — which includes a basic GPS tracking device used to record the area “cleared” by its tumbling path – costs as little as $40 to build.

It was showcased during Dutch Design Week and the Lodz Design Festival last year, and this month will enjoy a run at New York’s prestigious Museum of Modern Art.

Read more on CNN here.

Visit his blog here, his Twitter here and his Kickstarter project page here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fz8vfd5FT-4

[Source link via Lars Erik Toft]