Design for Demining
MIT's Edgerton Center offers this hands-on design course built around humanitarian demining, the work of detecting and safely destroying landmines that still kill or injure thousands of civilians every year across more than 80 countries. Students move through the full product development cycle: identifying field needs, generating ideas, building prototypes, blast testing, and planning manufacture and deployment, while weighing technical, business, and end-user constraints. Coursework includes a field trip to a U.S. Army base for demining training and sessions with guest experts from the demining community. Past student projects have produced hand tools, protective gear, safety equipment, and training materials, some of which are now used by demining teams worldwide. The course materials cover the engineering and design process alongside the practical and humanitarian context that shapes it. Offered through MIT OpenCourseWare, free to access.