VR for Deminers: Life-Saving Innovations
16.12.2025
On December 8, the second VR hackathon "Deminer's Lab" was held in Kyiv, an event that brought together security specialists, IT developers, demining instructors, and educators for one goal: to create a new generation of digital simulators for training sappers.
During the day, the teams worked on prototypes of virtual training missions that recreate the real challenges that deminers face on the ground every day: inspecting potentially dangerous areas, detecting suspicious objects, applying equipment and making decisions in stressful situations.
The participants presented different approaches to what modern VR training can look like: from the first minutes of territory reconnaissance to modeling full-fledged algorithms for working with explosive objects. Particular attention was paid to safety — training in VR makes it possible to repeatedly practice even the most risky scenarios without any threat to life.
The advantages of VR technologies for the preparation of deminers are obvious:
- workouts are available at any time and do not require complex preparation;
- the cost of equipment, fuel and logistics is significantly reduced;
- learning is completely safe, but as realistic as possible;
- Scenarios can be scaled and adapted to different levels of complexity.
It is especially important that such simulators open up opportunities for veterans: in modern conditions, they can be trained even at the stage of rehabilitation and acquire an important profession.
The teams demonstrated a high level of technical skill and created prototypes that can become the basis for a full-fledged VR deminer training complex. Participants took into account key field factors: different types of soils, weather conditions, working with multiple models of metal detectors, and the impact of environmental conditions on the risks of operations.
Organizers: Ministry of Economy, Environment and Agriculture of Ukraine, Center for Humanitarian Demining and the national platform Demine Ukraine.
Technical support was provided by Dropla Tech and Safer Access Ukraine, providing VR equipment and mentoring.
"The Deminer's Lab hackathon was another step towards introducing innovations in the field of humanitarian demining. Further work on the created prototypes and turning them into full-fledged tools that will help prepare new generation deminers is ahead,"
said Deputy Director of the Center for Digital Development and Innovation Andriy Datsyuk.