Mine Kafon Drone

Lore & Background

Massoud Hassani was born in Afghanistan, where an estimated 10 million mines are buried across about 500 square kilometers. As children, he and his brother Mahmud took a special path to school to avoid landmines, and the fear of buried mines became, in Hassani's words, 'like a mental disorder.' The brothers made wind-driven toys that would often get stuck in minefields. Hassani left Afghanistan at age 14 via smugglers arranged by his mother, and his family settled in the Netherlands. He studied Industrial Design at Design Academy Eindhoven.

Inspired by his childhood wind-powered toys, Hassani and his brother created the Mine Kafon wind-powered landmine machine—'Kafon' means 'explode' in Dari—as his 2011 graduation project. The machine, resembling a giant dandelion puff ball, was made of bamboo, iron, and plastic. It was a finalist in London's Design Museum's 2012 Design of the Year Award and was exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City in 2013. The concept works in theory, particularly in open desert areas, but Henk van der Slik of the Dutch Explosive Ordnance Disposal organization noted it could cause problems with retrieval and maintenance if damaged in a minefield, though it could be used to identify potential mine areas.

The project

After a successful 2012 Kickstarter campaign raising £119,456 against a £100,000 goal, Hassani established the Mine Kafon Foundation in 2013. The drone project was prototyped and field-tested with support from the Dutch Ministry of Defence. The team crowd-sourced designers and engineers globally.

The drone

The drone uses a three-step process: it flies above dangerous areas to generate a 3D map using a 3D camera, GPS, and a computer; then uses a metal detector on a retractable arm to pinpoint and geotag mines; finally, it places a detonator with a robotic gripping arm and retreats to a safe distance to detonate. Challenges include reliance on GPS for precise locations and difficulty identifying mines buried for decades. A second Kickstarter campaign in July 2016 raised €177,456 against a €70,000 goal to optimize the drone, create base stations, explore external antennas for triangulation, and train pilots for tests in different countries.

Reader's Guide

The Mine Kafon Drone represents a significant attempt to apply drone technology to the humanitarian problem of landmine clearance. There are an estimated 100 million buried landmines in 60 countries, with 20,000 individuals—mostly the elderly, women, and children—maimed annually, according to the United Nations. Civilians make up an estimated 79% of victims, with military at 18% and professional mine sweepers at 3%. Traditional removal costs between $300 and $1,000 per mine and is a lengthy, dangerous process; for example, 171,000 mines laid in Mozambique took 22 years to clear, completed in 2015.

The drone's developers claim it is 20 times faster and up to 200 times cheaper than current technologies, potentially clearing mines globally in 10 years. However, the notes record that the wind-powered Mine Kafon ball, while a conceptual predecessor, was critiqued by a Dutch explosive ordnance expert as not an effective demining tool, though useful for identifying potential mine areas. The drone itself faces challenges with GPS precision and identifying aged mines. In 2025, the Mine Kafon was included in 'Pirouette: Turning Points in Design' at the Museum of Modern Art, an exhibition featuring widely recognized design icons highlighting pivotal moments in design history, underscoring its cultural and design significance beyond its practical application.