残疾人查看：清除地雷的创造性方法

Since 1975, landmines have killed or maimed more than amillion people, 80 per cent of them civilians. The disabilities caused by mines are devastating. And, in countries where access to physiotherapy and prostheses is poor — that is, most countries where landmines exist — the lifelong impact on wellbeing is extreme.

上周的反个人矿山禁令会议会议in Switzerland was a reminder that the signatories hope to have eliminated mines within nine years. In that time, more than 100 million mines must be cleared from over 57 countries — andmore unexploded bombs出现在叙利亚和也门等国吗every day, despiteinternational treaties禁止他们。

然而，尽管科学家经常发明发现矿山的新方法，但它们与矿山清除社区的关系通常很差。部分原因是善意的发明者经常以古怪的想法轰炸清除组织，这些组织不欣赏其工作的复杂现实。

---

---

为了找出可以做什么，我响了比利时皇家军事学院的Yann Yvinec。他刚完成协调提拉米苏, a multimillion dollar project designed to bring scientists and mine clearers together to solve problems identified by the clearance community itself, rather than what scientists think they need.

Yvinec says the key was to bring onboard those involved in demining right from the start. The 26 research institutions and工程companies involved in the programme were guided not just by a scientific board but also an ‘end-user board’ — those who will use the技术- 在项目的每个阶段。

他们还引进了一家技术营销公司，以帮助分析为什么Deminers可能不使用新设计。与矿山清晰的评估和对话强调了技术的需求易于使用，健壮和便宜。

通过这种早期互动，科学家意识到了几个进一步的真理。伊维尼克（Yvinec）说，首先，恶魔会经常冒着生命危险，因此，谨慎和无误的工具对他们而言比速度或浮华小工具更为重要。

---

---

Second, a human inching along with a metal detector is, though slow, very accurate. “Metal detectors work very well now. There’s little you can do to improve them,” Yvinec says. “Improving detection itself is not where you can achieve the most in demining.”

Instead, the area crying out for more and better solutions is all the work you have to do up to the point of removing landmines — the less glamorous and inefficient work at the beginning to narrow down the target area, before the clearers go in, for example. “The clearers can spend days and days and weeks without finding a single mine,” he says.
提拉米苏（Tiramisu）提出的创新工具箱包括区分实际上挖掘哪些可疑区域的技术。

These include a remote control aerial drone, equipped with sensors, which can gather data above suspected minefields. There is a tablet device that can digitise and organise the many types of information surveyors gather about an area — from villagers’ testimonies and military maps, to the opinions of military strategists and topographical information.

一种正在开发的设备测试可疑雷区上方的空气，以供炸药气味。还有一款装甲拖拉机 - 比其类似坦克的前任更便宜，更小，更轻，更漫画 - 用于清理植被并为脱皮团队执行其他任务。

提拉米苏has now finished, but mine clearance organisations have already begun buying the new technologies. And the conversations haven’t stopped. “We are trying to build a centre of excellence, a community to keep the link between all of us and the mine action communities,” says Yvinec.

Aisling Irwin is a science journalist and writer based in the United Kingdom, and a former SciDev.Net news editor. She is contactable on[电子邮件保护]