Published on September 11th, 2022 📆 | 3135 Views ⚑
0This new technology detecting deadly landmines with 92% accuracy could help Ukraine
There are millions of active mines and munitions scattered across dozens of countries. Baur and his colleagues hope to make their drone-detection system available to demining organizations worldwide to help with efforts to make post-conflict countries safe.
Can this technology help in Ukraine?
On Thursday, the United States announced $89 million to assist Ukraine in clearing landmines.
Roughly 13 percent, 160,000 square kilometers of the Ukrainian territory of land may be "contaminated" by landmines and other unexploded ordnance, an area roughly the size of Virginia, Maryland, and Connecticut combined, according to Ukrainian government officials.
"The neural network detects landmines just from the data you give it. So we give it varied data and lots and lots of labeled data. That's why we're out here to collect lots of real-world data." said Steinberg.
"Machine learning always works best with real-world data. We have an algorithm that's able to detect the PFM-1 (butterfly mine) plastic landmine that's actually now being used and deployed in Ukraine," he added.
Evidence suggests that Russia is still deploying the same mines in Ukraine.
Gloss