During 2001/2, DEMINED worked with Rototek Ltd, of Newark, Nottinghamshire, to develop a pre-production prototype roller. Rototek has 25 years experience in rotation moulding of plastics. Rotation moulding is particularly appropriate for Third World situations - being a labour-intensive process. This will bring down roller manufacturing costs. DEMINED has just taken delivery of three rollers for preliminary testing. This will involve building a prototype framework to mount a set of rollers. Dummy landmines containing strain guages will be used to measure the forces experienced by landmines buried at different depths and in a variety of terrains. This will be used to confirm the effectiveness of the framework design. The next step will be to carry out further explosives testing at a site in Scotland. This will allow us to give more precise specifications for a subsequent batch of thirty rollers. The Trustees are determined that DEMINED remains a volunteer-run charity with minimal overheads - especially as substantial long-term grant aid for demining research is all but unavailable in the UK. To make best use of scarce funds, professional assistance will only be purchased when other sources of help have been exhausted. This is another dimension of our sustainable approach to demining research - and actually mirroring the Third World situation. |
