Afghan-born Dutch student Massoud Hassani has designed artificial tumbleweed made to detonate leftover mines. It was his graduation design project at the Design Academy Eindhoven. It continuously broadcasts its location, captured by GPS, plotting out safe, mine-free paths through fields.

It was based on some wind-power toys he made as a boy from discarded paper, plastic and the likes, as you can see in the video. His ‘Mine Kafon’ costs a mere 40 euro in lightweight materials and when it detonates a bomb, it loses a minimal amount of ‘legs’ and just keeps on rolling like tumbleweed.

Mine Kafon | Callum Cooper from Focus Forward Films on Vimeo.

(Link: boingboing.net, Photo of Uruzgan province, Afghanistan by Remko Tanis, some rights reserved)