Compressed-air robot makes clearing landmines safer in Cambodia

Landmines left behind after conflicts continue to kill and maim civilians for decades, and clearing them is dangerous, painstaking work. Traditionally, deminers use handheld probes and shovels to dig around suspected devices, an approach that risks accidental detonation. A Japanese demining support robot, profiled by the Government of Japan in March 2025, takes a gentler approach: it clears soil with jets of compressed air.

The robot, known as the DMR, was developed by the startup IOS Inc. using air-compressor technology from ANEST IWATA Corporation. Instead of striking the ground, it blows away the soil surrounding a buried mine, leaving the device intact and exposed so that operators can locate the detonation switch and remove it safely. Because the work can be done remotely, deminers stay farther from the danger zone, adding a layer of safety to one of the world's most hazardous jobs.

“Traditionally, deminers use handheld probes and shovels to dig around suspected devices, an approach that risks accidental detonation.”

The technology has been tested where it matters. In field trials in Cambodia, a country still heavily contaminated by mines, conducted from 2022 through October 2024, adding just one DMR to a clearance team improved the team's overall performance by 20%. That kind of efficiency gain is significant in a field where progress is measured meter by meter and every cleared field returns land to farmers and communities. The technology is also spreading: ANEST IWATA donated three units to the HALO Trust's Ukraine branch, where vast areas have been mined during the war.

The caveats are worth stating plainly. The robot is a support tool that augments human deminers rather than replacing them, and a 20% improvement, while meaningful, leaves an enormous global task ahead, as tens of millions of mines remain buried across dozens of countries. Compressed-air clearance also suits certain soil and mine types better than others. Even so, any technology that makes demining faster and safer is a direct contribution to saving lives and giving communities back the ground they need to live and farm.