This guy, although originally from Afghanistan, is in your neighborhood, speeding_snail. Actually, if I remember, I think we have an Eindhoven contingent here, no?
Yup, Eindhoven for the win. I've been told that the Eindhoven Design Academy is pretty well known in design circles, so I'm not all that surprised one of them came up with a good idea :P I think this is a good idea. It needs refinement, but it could actually work. I do wonder what he plans to do with those balls which have been on the receiving end of a blast and are no longer round. You'd think those would only be in the way.
I already mentioned this in HN discussion about the same subject, but that ball doesn't track what it has cleared. It doesn't really matter how much mines you blow. It matters how much mine free soil your cleaning effort creates. And it has to be 100% clean and clearly marked to be of any value. You could track what it has cleared with some kind of GPS signaling device. But being a ball, it doesn't clear that much on one go so you have to have quite precise signal. And it might jump over some mine. Or just roll over some mine that is malfunctioning little bit, but might explode under a truck. But I think this is a good publicity stunt as it might get designers to develop mine clearing hardware with a mindset: "this doesn't have to be expensive".
According to the designer, he envisions this ball as a good way to find minefields. Apparently, soldiers can spend days looking for mines in a place where there may not be any. He think that you could let this device loose and let it look for the fields. Then when one mine is found, then you could bring in the mine sweeping teams. He doesn't claim that it will do a comprehensive sweep.
I was listening to The Story with Dick Gordon and this guy was on there. It was a nice program, follow the link provided and you can listen. He described how it looks like a dandelion seed and floats through the dessert in a similar fashion. Once it activates a mine, it can often continue floating on too, only slightly worse for wear.
I enjoy his program, he has a great calming effect for me. I met him once while volunteering at WUNC to answer phones during their pledge drive. Nice, unassuming fella.
Yeah, Eindhoven was called the smartest region of the Netherlands. Stupid really, as the council is shutting down all libraries except one, that can't even afford new books. The Design Academy of which this anti land mine thing originated is also in bad shape, after the loss of its charismatic visionary director and trend watcher Lidewij Edelkoort.
So is it single use? It looks like it breaks when it hits a mine. Not trying to be a "hater," just tryna get those facts, you know?