International Red Cross Plans To Use Japanese AI On Drones To Detect Landmines In Ukraine

JAKARTA - The International Cross Committee plans to leverage Japan's developed artificial intelligence (AI) technology to accelerate the detection of unused landmines and ammunition in war-torn areas including Ukraine, so that refugees can return to their homes more quickly.

In a three-year collaboration with a Japanese expert and electronics giant NEC Corp, the Red Cross has developed a system involving drones and equipment with artificial intelligence, which can enhance its own image analysis capabilities by studying the circumstances around it.

The system will be very useful in countries such as Ethiopia and Ukraine, which have experienced severe contamination from anti-personnel weapons, said ICRC President Mirjana Spoljaric.

"In one day, this flying machine can do the job of a sniffer dog in six months," said Erik Tollefsen, head of the committee's weapons contamination unit, as reported by Kyodo News July 27.

"While a mine disposaler will identify mines in an area of about 50 square meters in one day, drones will be able to do so in four flights and will carry out the same work in an area of 100,000 square meters," Tollefsen said.

It says drones can take photos from a few meters above the ground and even find underground landmines using infrared cameras.

Meanwhile, Hideyuki Sawada, a professor of applied physics at Waseda University who is involved in developing this system, said the use of AI technology would help detect landmines more effectively and quickly, reducing deaths and mine injuries.

"Thanks to the development of the Deep Learning method, image recognition and the ability to detect and identify objects have increased drastically," Sawada explained.

It is known, it is more difficult for drones to detect landmines in urban or forest environments, than in open fields or deserts.

But Sawada said, AI learns more in such situations, the ability to detect landmines will develop further.