How one Industrial Designer is using his skill to save the children of his country.
As a child in Afghanistan in the 1980s, Massoud Hassani saw first hand the damage cause by the millions of landmines that are scattered throughout the country. Spread throughout fields and around villages and towns, children who like to run and play are the ones who most often fall victim to the landmines that have been left over from the numerous wars that have taken place throughout the last 60-70 years. After moving to Holland in the late 1990s, Hassani “decided to pursue a creative education at the Design Academy Eindhoven,” with the intention of designing products that could help rid his country of these hidden killers.
The Mine Kafon, or Mine Sweeper in English, is a “landmine decommissioning device” which was inspired by Hassani’s childhood toys. It is a “wind-blown, bamboo-spiked ball” that rolls through a field detonating mines as it rolls. Equipped with GPS, the Mine Kafon tracks the landmines and sends that information back to a website which then tracks a safe course through the field.
In November of 2012, Hassani was invited to give a TEDx talk where he explains the ideas behind the Mine Kafon, and his hopes for the future of his homeland.