7 ms·
This is a great solution, but it seems like it is designed to follow a random path (that is, where the wind blows). How do you prevent this from creating a fals
by chad_oliver 14y ago
This is a great solution, but it seems like it is designed to follow a random path (that is, where the wind blows). How do you prevent this from creating a false sense of security, when in fact there are areas of the desert which have not been tested?
I remember when I was little I built a small platform high up in a tree. My father refused to let me put a rail around it, because the sort of rail I could build would not be enough to stop a fall and would only encourage a sense of complacency.
Of course, I do not mean this as a criticism of the design, but merely as a path for future exploration.
- robotresearcher 14y agoA truly random path would be pretty good, since you approach perfect coverage with repeated runs. Alas, the wind direction is not random, particularly in this kind of environment. An interesting demining approach is to buy the local villagers lots of sheep and pen them in the areas of concern. Once in a while a sheep goes boom. Meanwhile: wool and baby sheep as a side effect.
- huhtenberg 14y agoTruly random paths would give you the 97.8% probability that there are no mines left, over a course of N field traversals. Obviously, that ain't good enough.
- capsicum 14y agobut because of the low cost we can create a lot of these and let them run over a long period of time.
- lostlogin 14y agoSurely the trip to collect the thing after it passes out the minefield is an issue, it could take days to retrieve.
- pbhjpbhj 14y agoPiece of string on a reel?
- lostlogin 14y agoSurely the trip to collect the thing after it passes out the minefield is an issue, it could take days to retrieve.
- lostlogin 14y agoSurely the trip to collect the thing after it passes out the minefield is an issue, it could take days to retrieve.
- lostlogin 14y agoSurely the trip to collect the thing after it passes out the minefield is an issue, it could take days to retrieve.
- robotresearcher 14y agoThat's not true for N=1,2 or 3. If you mean as N approaches infinity, coverage approaches 97.8%, how do you figure that?
- _djo_ 14y agoOnly if you assume totally flat terrain and 100% probability of the Mine Kafon detonating each mine it passes over, neither of which are likely.
- anthonyb 14y agoEr, that's incredibly cruel, since most landmines are designed to maim, not kill, eg. by spraying shrapnel at knee level. That might kill sheep outright, but I doubt it.
- robotresearcher 14y agoBetter sheep than the children who get blown up in the absence of sheep.
- anthonyb 14y agoOnly very slightly. Also, it suffers from the same problem as the Mine Kafon, in that it's a more-or-less random walk and you won't know whether the whole area is cleared.
- humbledrone 14y ago> Only very slightly. Just to be clear, are you saying that it is only very slightly better for a sheep, rather than a human child, to be maimed by a land mine? That seems to be what you wrote, but I'm having a very difficult time reconciling your world view with my own, so I'm hoping that I am somehow misunderstanding.
- jrabone 14y agoThinking as a farming peasant, perhaps your child is probably worth less to me than my sheep? Only one is going to feed my family and keep me warm.
- natrius 14y agoYou're intending to be counter-intuitively insightful, but there are few scenarios in which a sheep is more valuable than a child. You could sell a child for more than you could sell a sheep. The children who are in the most danger from mines are past infancy, and that is when children begin to be worth more than they cost to maintain if you aren't sending them to school.
- Cass 14y agoHow are people supposed to shear those sheep, or take care of them during lambing/when they're sick, or to feed or water them, if they can't actually enter the pen? It seems to me that sheep penned in a land mine field would either be useless, because you couldn't go near them, or worse than useless, because they'd be a temptation to enter the dangerous area.
- nakkiel 14y agoTurns out sheep's will run toward whoever takes care of them.
- nfg 14y agoI take it you've never worked with sheep on a farm then...?!
- nakkiel 14y agoNo, you're right, I never worked on a farm; I simply grew up in a farm. Sheep are scared stomachs on legs. When they see their daily source of food and nothing suspicious (such as a stranger), they reach. My grandfather could also call them and they would reach even with a stranger present.
- bct 14y agoHa.
- robotresearcher 14y agoThe point is that these people have sheep and goats already for basic subsistence. They already use these dangerous fields. By buying them more animals instead of (or as well as) spending money on expensive technical demining kit, you increase the probability of mine clearance a bit, while making the person wealthier. Sheep reproduce and excess lambs can be sold, making the process sustainable. Similarly, training locals in demining with donated basic equipment is also good, in the sense that these new experts can sell their services locally. The down side is that these brave people take extra risk. Both the livestock and local training methods were used in Bosnia, which had a serious landmine problem recently.
- bstpierre 14y agoSheep like to eat stuff like grass, which does not appear to be plentiful in the areas in question. You could feed hay, but then the sheep will congregate around the area where you dump the hay instead of wandering around getting blown up. Not to mention that hay (as well as fencing, and possibly water in some of those areas) would be expensive.
- mamoswined 14y agoMultiple types of animals have been trained (EG http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/africa/09/07/herorats.detect.landmines/index.html http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/africa/09/07/herorats.detect.l...) to detect land mines. Most animals have much more highly developed senses than ours. It is possible that the flocks of sheep would learn over time to avoid landmines. It's possibly they already do this. It would be better to teach the local people how to train animals than to damage their valuable livestock.
- tomrod 14y agoInstead of sheep (which apparently require a lot of contact)--how many emu farms in the US have gone bankrupt recently?
- marcamillion 14y agoOne alternative to this is to just create lanes with rope. i.e. you drive a stake in the ground on either side of the field (if that's even possible) and just create a lane where each of these rollers roll through. It won't work in every single landmine, but it can provide a 'grid' within which you know what has been cleared and what has not.
- jontas 14y agoWhen they're handing out jobs, I sure hope I'm not the one assigned to drive these stakes and run the ropes through the minefields :)
- viraptor 14y agoYou don't have to run them through the minefield really. You could potentially start from the side and drag two ends of the lines from the side. May be harder with heavy / long lines / wind, but come on - we can build hanging bridges over very high canyons without anyone levitating to the other side first ;)
- marcamillion 14y agoThat's exactly what I was referring to.