<html><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:verdana, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:10pt"><div><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: rgb(52, 125, 126);"><span style="font-size: 16px;"><span>This may have been sent to the LWG already by Chuck Palazzo. If not, here is the article and the link for anyone who wishes to take a look.</span></span></span></span></div><div style="font-family: verdana,helvetica,sans-serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: rgb(52, 125, 126);"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br><span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 13.3333px; font-family: verdana,helvetica,sans-serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: rgb(52, 125, 126);"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>CHUCK</span>
</span></span></span><br></div><div><font size="1"><br><span style="font-style:italic;color:rgb(128, 0, 0);font-weight:bold;font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><span style="font-style:italic;color:rgb(128, 0, 0);font-weight:bold;font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><font style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-style:italic;font-weight:bold;color:rgb(128, 0, 0);" size="1">==================================<br>CHUCK SEARCY<br>Project RENEW <br></font></font><font size="1"><font style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-style:italic;font-weight:bold;color:rgb(128, 0, 0);" size="1">Humpty Dumpty Institute<br>Veterans for Peace<br>25 Truong Han Sieu, #302, Hanoi, Vietnam<br>Mobile: +84 (0) 903 420 769<br>Email: chucksearcy@yahoo.com<br>Web: landmines.org.vn<br>Web:
thehdi.org<br>Web: veteransforpeace.org<br>Skype: chucksearcy<br>==================================</font><br><br></font></div><a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2012/11/29/tech/innovation/mine-kafon-tumbleweed-minesweeper/index.html">http://edition.cnn.com/2012/11/29/tech/innovation/mine-kafon-tumbleweed-minesweeper/index.html</a><h1>Mine Kafon: The low-tech, high-design tumbleweed minesweeper</h1>
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<div class="cnnByline">By <b>George Webster,</b> CNN</div>
<div class="cnn_strytmstmp">November 29, 2012 -- Updated 1804 GMT (0204 HKT) | Filed under: <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/TECH/innovation/archive/" class="cnn_SRLTbbnfltr_6">Innovations</a><br><br>
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<img src="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/121128054812-mine-sweeper-morocco-desert-horizontal-gallery.jpg" alt="The Mine Kafon is a low-cost wind-powered mine detonator with the appearance of a giant, spiky-armed tumbleweed. " id="articleGalleryPhoto001" style="margin:0 auto;" border="0" height="360" width="640">
<cite style="" id="galleryCaption001"><br>The Mine Kafon is a low-cost wind-powered mine detonator with the appearance of a giant, <br>spiky-armed tumbleweed. </cite>
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<div><b>STORY HIGHLIGHTS</b></div>
<ul class="cnn_bulletbin cnnStryHghLght"><li>Mine Kafon is a cheap, light, wind-powered mine detonating device</li><li>Created by an Afghan designer who was inspired by toys he modeled as a child </li><li>Industry expert says concept is laudable, but does not currently meet safety standards</li></ul>
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<div><b>(CNN)</b> -- 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.</div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 13.3333px; font-family: verdana,helvetica,sans-serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;"><br></div>
<div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph2"><a href="http://www.massoudhassani.blogspot.co.uk/" target="_blank">Massoud Hassani</a>'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.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph2"><br></div>
<div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph3">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.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph3"><br></div>
<div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph5">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.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph5"><br></div>
<div class="cnn_strylftcntnt"><div class="cnn_strylctcntr cnn_strylccimg214">
<img src="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/121128054347-mine-sweeper-massoud-hassani-left-tease.jpg" alt="Afghan designer Massoud Hassani" class="box-image" border="0" height="122" width="214">
<div>Afghan designer Massoud Hassani</div>
</div></div>
<div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph6"><br></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 13.3333px; font-family: verdana,helvetica,sans-serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;" class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph6">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 <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2012/11/29/tech/innovation/mine-kafon-tumbleweed-minesweeper/index.html" target="_blank">International Campaign to Ban Landmines.</a></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 13.3333px; font-family: verdana,helvetica,sans-serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;" class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph6"><a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2012/11/29/tech/innovation/mine-kafon-tumbleweed-minesweeper/index.html" target="_blank"><br></a></div>
<div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph7">But this method can be prohibitively expensive - in some cases it costs thousands of dollars to clear just a single mine.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph7"><br></div>
<div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph8">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.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph8"><br></div>
<div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph9">"The core sphere that
contains the GPS system is high enough from the ground to avoid damage
from most anti-personnel mines," explained Hassani.</div><br>
<div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph11">The lengths of the
spikes are based on the height of an adult's leg - because the kinds of
mines that it is designed to clear are those that will take a leg off
below the waist of an adult.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph11"><br></div>
<div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph12">"So, as it moves the
spikes get blown off, but the center stays intact," Hassani said. "It
can withstand up to four explosions before it loses too many of its legs
to carry on."</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph12"><br></div>
<div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph13">As a young kid growing up in Afghanistan, Hassani did what children the world over do: made up games and created his own toys.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph13"><br></div>
<div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph14">"One of them was a
little rolling object that was carried by the wind," he recalled. "We
would race them against each other in the local fields.</div>
<div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph15">"Sometimes, due to the presence of landmines, they would roll off into places that we weren't permitted to go."</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph15"><br></div>
<div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph16"></div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph17">After his father was
killed in a rocket attack during the late 1980s, Hassani fled
Afghanistan with his mother, brother and sisters. Living first in
Uzbekistan, then traveling through central Asia and ending up four years
later as a refugee in Holland, Hassani went on to study at the Design
Academy in Eidenhoven.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph17"><br></div>
<div class="cnn_strylftcntnt"><div class="cnn_strylctcntr cnn_strylctcquote"><div class="cnn_strylctcqcntr">
<div>It looks to me that there is also a huge limitation in terms of
terrain ... I can't see it working on hills or areas with dense
vegetation<br><span>Adam Komorowski, Mine Advisory Group head of operations. <br><br></span></div>
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<div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph18">What started life as his
final graduate design project has since undergone strength testing at
the hands of the Dutch military. This year, a full-scale mock-up was
tested in the deserts around Morocco and Hassani hopes to fundraise
$100,000 so he can engineer the design to mass produced, industry
standards.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph18"><br></div>
<div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph19">However, some are skeptical about Mine Kafon's chances of ever meeting the official <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2012/11/29/tech/innovation/mine-kafon-tumbleweed-minesweeper/index.html" target="_blank">International Mine Action Standards</a> (IMAS) -- considered to be the minimum grade of delivery for responsible mine clearing operations.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph19"><br></div>
<div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph20">"There are many citizens
who live in mine-affected areas who carry out their own DIY clearances,
and while this is noble it is also very dangerous," explained Adam
Komorowski, head of operations at the UK-based <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2012/11/29/tech/innovation/mine-kafon-tumbleweed-minesweeper/index.html" target="_blank">Mine Advisory Group</a>.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph20"><br></div>
<div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph21">"For any mine clearing technology to be adopted by a serious mine action organization, it needs to conform to IMAS.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph21"><br></div>
<div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph22">"As much as I welcome
all new ideas -- and I think this is a nice concept with great potential
to raise awareness and perhaps inspire other solutions -- I can't see
it meeting those standards in anything like its current form," he said.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph22"><br></div>
<div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph23">Komorowski, who stresses
that his assessment is based solely on what he has read and viewed
online, believes that Hassani's creation is undermined by its dependence
on the "serendipity of random gusts" -- making it a haphazard option in
a field traditionally characterized by highly methodical techniques.
"Every square centimeter of land should be properly checked," he said.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph23"><br></div>
<div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph24">"I'm also not convinced
that the device can be relied upon to necessarily detonate every mine it
crosses," said Komorowski, who argues that if a couple of its spikes
are blown off during a clearance, then the holes in its structure could
cause it to miss other mines as it rolls on.</div>
<div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph25">"It looks to me that
there is also a huge limitation in terms of terrain," he added. "I can't
see it working on hills or areas with dense vegetation."</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph25"><br></div>
<div class="cnn_strylftcntnt"><div class="cnn_strylctcntr cnn_strylctcquote"><div class="cnn_strylctcqcntr">
<div>I think we can use our talents to find design-based solutions to more serious problems<br><br></div>
</div></div></div>
<div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph26">Hassani says he is aware of these limitations, and claims to have a number of solutions in the pipeline.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph26"><br></div>
<div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph27">"We are developing a
remote-controlled model with a motor and a metal detector -- so that
even if it fails to detonate a mine, it should map-out the presence of
metal structures underneath," he said.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph27"><br></div>
<div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph28">Whether the Mine Kaffon
can be engineered to overcome the criticisms of industry insiders like
Komorowski, the strikingly-designed structure with its poetic symmetry
has already brought the issue of landmine clearance to new audiences in
the design world.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph28"><br></div>
<div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph29">It was recently
showcased during Dutch Design Week and the Lodz Design Festival, and in
March of next year will enjoy a run at New York's prestigious Museum of
Modern Art.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph29"><br></div>
<div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph30">"The design industry is
perhaps too focused on tables and chairs," said Hassani. "I think we can
use our talents to find design-based solutions to more serious
problems."</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph30"><br></div><br>
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