Massoud Hassani's new "Mine Kafon" is a wind-powered device that detonates land mines.
Afghanistan is filled with land mines: every month, hidden mines kill dozens of Afghans. When product designer Massoud Hassani began to think about solutions to the problem, he remembered a game he'd played when he was growing up in Kabul. He and his brothers built small paper toys, shaped like tumbleweed, that they took outside and raced in the strong desert wind. Hassani's Mine Kafon, designed to detonate land mines, is a much larger version of those toys, made from biodegradable plastic and bamboo.
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When the wind blows, the Mine Kafon begins to roll across the open desert. It's heavy enough that it can activate land mines. If a mine explodes, the device will typically lose one or two of its octopus-like legs, but it can keep going, powered by the wind. The legs can also be replaced.
Right now, the Mine Kafon is still a prototype, but Hassani wants to take it out in the field and start putting it to work. The devices can be manufactured at a low cost. His new Kickstarter campaign is up now.
Click here to add supporting Mine Kafon to your to-do list.
Images courtesy of Massoud Hassani
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