Here’s How AI Can Detect Mines and Save Lives

AI-powered drones have the potential to make it faster and safer to remove mines. Our experts explain how it works and why the future may not be that far away.   

Published on Jan. 27, 2025
Engineer controlling a drone over muddy land
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For people living in war ravaged communities, danger lingers long after the battles have stopped. That’s because the dust of conflict settles on landmines and unexploded ordnance buried in roads, farm fields, playgrounds and schools, posing a deadly risk for locals looking to restart their lives.

In Ukraine alone, an estimated 30 percent of land is contaminated with deadly explosives — resulting in a silent, near-invisible and ever-present threat to innocent lives. Unfortunately, Ukraine’s tumultuous situation is all too familiar to a host of other nations across the globe. In South Sudan, more than 5,000 civilians have been killed or injured by landmines and unexploded ordinance left behind from the civil war since 2004.

How AI Can Be Used to Remove Mines

Modern drone technology combined with AI and geospatial mapping data has the ability to communicate mine location data to mine-removal professionals in real time. This would allow them to plan and perform mine removals with more efficiency and safety than the traditional process for finding and disposing of explosive remnants of war.

Traditionally, the process for finding and safely disposing of explosive remnants of war (ERW) has been painstaking, deadly and happening at a snail’s pace, for obvious reasons. In Ukraine, for example, where an estimated 174,000 square kilometers are riddled with ERWs, current methodologies would take over 750 years to fully clear. That’s an unacceptable timeline. 

A drone-based, AI-powered detection platform using mapping technology can bridge the gap among defense, public safety and humanitarian aid by using geospatial intelligence to mitigate risks in conflict zones.

 

Using AI and Drones to Tackle Unexploded Ordinances

Better technological alternatives to manual clearing ordnance do exist, but they are prohibitively expensive, rendering them practically useless for war-torn communities. The world needs methods that leverage low-cost, commercially available technology to detect and map these deadly devices.

Modern drone technology, sensors and artificial intelligence tools (AI) are cheaper, abundant and powerful. The building blocks to create real change for the inhabitants of war-torn communities are available today; however, putting them into action would require years of development and coding – years that will inevitably cost more lives. The cementing factor for these pieces of hardware to be put into action is a geospatial management element. 

By harnessing landmine detection data in combination with mapping technology, information can be communicated in real-time to deminers on the ground, allowing them to plan and perform mine-removal efforts with unparalleled efficiency and safety.

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Harnessing Geospatial Data with AI Mine Detection

Across the world, demining professionals, AI experts, drone developers and field operatives with on-the-ground experience are coming together in the mission to save these communities. The future of mine removal can’t rely solely on manual work, and it can’t rely on one technology alone, but drone-based landmine detection can provide one piece of the puzzle to enable safer, more efficient, faster and more cost-effective landmine clearance. 

This can be accomplished through a high-quality machine-learning algorithm for landmine detection coupled with backend data storage, frontend geospatial UI and landmine geospatial data. Being able to quickly map the location and types of landmines and unexploded ordnance can enable faster demining, provide mission-critical decision basis and could quickly allow for areas to be restored to normality.

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Embracing AI for Mine Removal Can Speed Up Global Recovery Efforts 

Explosive remnants of war are a global problem, affecting communities from Angola to Vietnam, where the financial cost of mine clearance is simply too high. This proposed formula is a blueprint for speeding up demining operations worldwide, ensuring that technology developed can be adapted and deployed in other conflict zones. 

The impact of this effort is immediate – more land is being cleared, more lives are being saved, and the path to recovery is becoming shorter for communities across the world. Furthermore, by training local teams and providing them with the skills and knowledge needed to utilize these advanced tools effectively, local deminers will be empowered to not only speed up the process of land clearance but also build a sustainable future for these communities. This is a pathway to use technology for good, in its purest form. 

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