NEC Corp. on Wednesday said it has developed artificial intelligence technology that is capable to predicting where landmines are most likely buried with about 90 percent accuracy.
The technology could lead to more efficient removal of landmines and reduce the number of yearly deaths from the underground explosives, and the Japanese company said it aims to provide AI landmine prediction services to governments and international organizations by March 2024.
In an experiment conducted between April and October last year in conflict zones around Asia, NEC used open data on landscapes and military facilities provided by the International Committee of the Red Cross as well as reports from local residents in successfully predicting where landmines in certain zones were buried, NEC said.
Using the technology, the time needed in narrowing 800 sites down to probable landmine burial sites can be shortened to a few hours from several years.
Although it is still necessary to manually confirm the landmine burial zones, the company said the technology is hoped to hasten the removal process.
NEC said it aims to further improve the speed and accuracy of its forecasts by incorporating different information sources, such as data gathered from drones and satellites.
In 2021, war remnants such as landmines and cluster bombs killed at least 5,554 people worldwide, most of whom were civilians, according to NEC.
