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15 | W aterloo C hronicle | T hursday,F ebruary 7,2019 w aterloochronicle.ca 22NDANNUAL SUHAAG SHOW INTERNATIONAL CENTRE 416.716.5793 / 416.876.9779 WWW.SUHAAG.COM SAVE THE DATE FEBRUARY 10, 2019 North America's LARGEST SOUTH ASIAN Fashion + Jewellery & Bridal Event When Richard Yim was young, the thought of run- ning around freely was un- heard of in his native Cam- bodia. The presence of land- mines and unexploded am- munition as a result of civil war made tiptoeing around a literal way of living. "Wherever you go see, you see landmines; for me, it has always been a prob- lem I've seen since I was young," Yim recalled. "When I moved here to Canada is when I realized, one of the most basic free- dom that people (have) is the freedom to walk, the ability to walk places with- out worry about stepping on explosives." "When I was young, the thought of running around in the jungle, in the forest, in the field, was absurd to my parents." Drawing inspiration from his past, Yim, as part of a project during his time at the University of Water- loo, decided to find a solu- tion to this monumental problem himself. Landmine Boys, which is now known as Demine Robotics, was born in the hopes of excavating land- mines. The startup was found- ed in 2016 by engineering graduates; its headquar- ters are now at the Tannery in Kitchener. Yim moved to Toronto when he was 13 before mov- ing to Waterloo in 2011 to pursue his mechanical en- gineering degree, and he's been here ever since. Yim toured several mi- nefields in Cambodia as well as completing an in- tensive demining program with the Cambodian Mine Action Center, says De- mine Robotics has worked on four iterations of ma- chines, each of which has been progressively more functional than the last to help rid the country of un- exploded ordinances (UX- Os). According to Demine Robotics' website, Cambo- dia has four to six million landmines and UXOs. The latest machine de- veloped by Demine is called the Jevit, a remote- controlled excavator unit that has been designed to unearth anti-personal mines and other small- sized UXOs. It has been designed with two mechanical arms, which plunge into the ground under a mine to "lift it out of the ground safely and efficiently." Demining has three main steps, as Yim de- scribed: locating the land- mines, removing them and detonation. Currently, re- moval is done by hand as deminers have to be ex- tremely careful during the removal process. Demine Robotics has gone through several tests, and the latest was very suc- cessful, Yim Says, making it a "big moment" for the ambitious startup. Through the testing, Yim has been in proximity with several landmines, which has help lessen the fear toward them a bit. "It wasn't scary at the time to do it; looking back, it always sends a bit of shiv- er down my spin," Yim ex- plained. "Just a thought that if I were to trip or one wrong step, can change my life completely or can cost me my life, that's a scary thought." Demine has also worked in conjunction with the Cambodia Mine Action Centre, a non-governmen- tal organization. LOCAL STARTUP LOOKS TO END PRESENCE OF LANDMINES ACROSS GLOBE NAMISH MODI nmodi@waterloo chronicle.ca BUSINESS RICHARD YIM GREW UP IN CAMBODIA AND WASN'T ABLE TO RUN FREELY; HE WANTS TO CHANGE THINGS The Jevit is the fourth iteration that Demine Robotics has created in hopes of excavating landmines in Cambodia and eventually across the world Demine Robotics photo CONTACT INFO https://deminerobotics.com/ The Tannery, 151 Charles Street West 519-729-3885