At the XIII International Festival of Innovative Projects “Sikorsky Challenge 2024: Innovations for Peace and Security of Ukraine”, the team of the project “Modular Remote Demining System ‘Impactor’ won the Best Startup Solution nomination. The authors of the development are members of the Geotron student research group.
The club members, based at the Department of Automation of Electrical and Mechatronic Complexes of the Institute of IEE, learn to create various systems and machines capable of solving important scientific problems in such fields as electromechanics, energy, electrical engineering, resource conservation, etc. And in their name, they combined the words “geotechnics” and “mechatronics”.
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The future engineers, gaining practical experience, created and improved their design gradually, step by step. “Starting in 2014, the Geotron student club identified the problem of demining areas contaminated during military operations as one of its research areas,” says Professor Stefan Zaichenko, the head of the young inventors. ”The first solution of the student team was to create a fundamentally new mechanical probe that, by analyzing the composition of the soil, detected mines made of almost any material.”
Subsequently, students Sofia Dokshyna and Roman Kulish received a Diploma of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine for their intellectual product “Best Invention of the Year” at the All-Army Competition of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Over time, the development took on a finalized form and was granted patent No. 140294: “Mine Detector”, authors Stefan Zaichenko, Roman Kulish, Sofia Dokshyna, Serhii Korol. It was published on February 10, 2020. At the same time, the researchers became finalists in the Sikorsky Challenge startup competition.
Two years later, a great war broke out - a full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. And the need for explosive detection and mine clearance devices has grown significantly. According to statistics, the losses of the country's agricultural sector alone amounted to $10.3 billion at the beginning of 2024, and have definitely increased since then. At that time, up to 1.5 million hectares of agricultural land were damaged, which is 3.6% of all agricultural land in Ukraine. The estimated cost of their reclamation increased to $329 million.
So the inventors' work continued. After solving the problem of reliable explosive detection, further research was aimed at creating a new effective way to deactivate landmines and shells. “The analysis of common designs of objects that make up the bulk of mine contamination of territories after military operations - landmines and shells - allowed us to propose the principle of their neutralization by destroying and separating the fuze of the munition without detonating the main charge,” continues Stefan Volodymyrovych. ”To implement this method, we proposed a number of fundamentally new engineering solutions that allow us to mechanically separate or destroy the fuze of the warhead.
Future scientific research and implementation of innovative developments required management decisions. So, on the basis of the Institute of IEE, with the direct participation of the university administration and the personal contribution of the director of the institute Oksana Vovk, the Educational and Research Center for Innovative Technologies in Humanitarian Demining was created. Today, the Center is a specialized institution engaged in training, research and development, implementation of innovative technologies, certification of processes and products in accordance with international standards. It consists of a qualification department for theoretical and practical training, a research and development department with an analytical sector and production laboratories, an information sector for disseminating knowledge, and departments for process and product certification. The project department ensures the implementation of innovations, and the international cooperation sector facilitates the exchange of experience and the implementation of best practices. According to the scientists, the Center guarantees the effectiveness of its activities aimed at safety and development of modern approaches to humanitarian demining.
It is with the support of the Educational and Research Center for Innovative Technologies in Humanitarian Demining that members of the Geotron student group Vitalii Kovalchuk, Ivan Anisimov and Zhang Wenjun were able to implement the proposed engineering solutions by creating an experimental model of the Impactor device, which can remotely destroy mines without detonating the main charge, and submitted it to the Sikorsky Challenge startup competition. The device consists of two main components: a radio-controlled electric detonator and a prefabricated package of four main technological layers: an explosive with a detonator; a substance that reduces the explosive effect on the mine (projectile), a shock wave damper and a striker designed to directly detach the detonator from the mine (projectile) while minimizing the likelihood of its detonation. (For reference: impactor is a striker, part of a demining device).
This development won the Environmental Safety and Humanitarian Demining section. Now the club members are planning international cooperation under the NATO Science for Peace and Security program.