Hardit Sahota

For my final thesis I have chosen to explore solutions to disarm and dispose of landmines that remain buried in rural areas around the world post-war. Currently there are an estimated 110 million landmines still in the ground, that with current technologies would take up to 1100 years and $100 Billion dollars to completely remove.The 5 countries with the most remaining landmines are Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Syria.

AEGIS is a modular, remotely operated, three-vehicle system that efficiently detects, clears, and disposes of landmines. The upper part of the vehicle is modular and slots into place like Lego bricks when interchanging attachments. The second module is farming-focused, with flowing architectural forms that are inspired by large boulders and rocks. This design makes the vehicle more approachable to the locals in the area.

The vehicle is aimed towards governments or organisations (such as the Halo Trust) that are dedicated to the removal of their landmines. This vehicle would drastically shorten the projected removal time, since the vehicle can remove these mines at up to 10 times faster than it takes to manually diffuse and dispose of them.