Honorable Mention

Cristina Cruz, grade 11, and Conrad Parsons, grade 11
Granada Hills Charter High School, Granada Hills, CA
Teacher: Kani Kim

Our design is a simple yet effective method to dispose of landmines and clear landmine fields. It benefits the user because it allows them to clear the land around them of invisible death traps. We learned about the problem of landmines through movies and research. Our design consists of two large drones, a human operator, and a long chain heavy enough to trigger a landmine and strong enough to resist a blast. The two drones drag the chain across a field in a grid search pattern destroying landmines. The implementation of our design will save lives. Annually, landmines claim 5,000 lives and injure another 20,000. Landmines cannot be defused in most cases and are not marked, so they are invisible threats. They are remnants of wars and clearing them would bring us closer to a peaceful world.