On the 16th and 17th of September 2017 we will host the exhibition Explosive Botanic of the artist Nedyalka Panova about her work on the use of plants to detect landmines.

The exhibition will be in the outdoor premises of our new head quarters "la Lumassina", the office we built using straw bales and wood in the middle of the a large green area we are looking forward to transform in open air research centre, in via Leonardo Fea 10, 16142 Genova.

On Saturday the 16th of September, there will be also a concert by Jef, the band author of Billy Goat Radio musical theme. 

All are welcome!

Recently we have received an email about COCODEMA tool: a tool for evaluating demining equipment cost efficiency.

"Dear Dr. Cepolina,

A colleague and I initiated a project to develop an unmanned aerial vehicle for the detection of ERW and landmines. We aim to help NGOs making their work safer and faster. So far, we have achieved to build our first prototype which we use to evaluate the principle of our system. In order to estimate possible benefits of our system compared to current machines and methods for detection, we are researching specific information on cost- and time-efficiency of these machines and methods.

During our research, I came across a presentation of yours about a new tool for evaluating demining machine’s cost-efficiency(20/06/2014, Pretoria). It seems to be suitable for our evaluation purposes. Therefore, I kindly ask you, if you have any additional information about it? Furthermore, is there any way we can have access to it?"

We are very pleased to know somebody else would like to see the tool completed and use it. We started working on the tool outside our tasks as an additional project to TIRAMISU project because we thought it would have been very useful. Unfortunately we had to stop working on it because of lack of time and funding, but we will try to take it back in our hands and develop it further.

A TV documentary made on TIRAMISU by French-speaking TV channel RTBF is available on-line for the next couple of days at:

https://www.rtbf.be/auvio/detail_matiere_grise?id=2204038

The documentary also speaks about our work on the explosive test of blast resistant wheels.

We have completed the construction of our new head quarter, la Lumassina. It is mostly made by ourselves using natural and renewable material (wood and straw bales) and produces all the energy it needs from the sun and from the forest nearby.

It is an example of the appropriate technology we like to study, design and implement. 

There is a lot of land around we are looking forward in transforming in a permanent applied open air research centre. 

Happy New Year!

A video taken from Mr Dinamite series about LOCOSTRA is now available online, here.

Emanuela attended the annual Mine Action Symposium in Biograd, Croatia. This time, Snail Aid presented two papers: one on the latest development of Billy Goat Radio and one on the work on the Test and Evaluating Protocol to be used during Acceptance test of demining machines not designed to detonate hazards by National Mine Action Authorities (NMAAs). During the presentation of Billy Goat Radio we launched the call for expressions of interest for having BILLY GOAT RADIO for FREE. Organizations interested in using Billy Goat Radio in the field are invited to contact us! Thanks to our colleagues for the good time spent together!

Last week, we had the final review of TIRAMISU project. The last four years have been very intense and rich. We thank all the partners with which we had the pleasure to work closely and constructively and with which we enjoyed a lot of laughs. We hope we will be able to work together again in the future!

In September 2015 the results of TIRAMISU projects have been presented to a large audience. Among the stakeholders invited there was her highness princess Astrid of Belgium. It has been a pleasure to speak with her about Billy Goat Radio tool.The gallery of all the pictures taken by Silvia Aresca, our member and professional photographer can be seen here.

 

We have uploaded on this website a DEMO version of Billy Goat Radio Adaptability System, the simple software allowing creating stories to deliver risk educational messages tailored to the local context in terms of educational messages and details of everyday life.

If you wish to give the demo a try, please contact us either by using the form or by writing an email to snailaid AT gmail.com