A new 18-month field study in Ukraine, conducted by Norwegian People's Aid (NPA) with Safe Pro Group's SpotlightAI, shows AI-analyzed drone imagery increases demining survey productivity by over 800%.

Presented at the 2025 Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining Innovation Conference, the research focuses on improving non-technical surveys to identify suspected hazardous areas before ground clearance.

Additional findings include 850% more confirmed hazardous areas identified per hour per team and 570% more effective definition of Confirmed Hazardous Areas with SpotlightAI, along with surveys 300% faster per hour per team.

Key participants include Kyaw Lin Htut and Dr. Jasper Baur, who presented preliminary findings in a session on Remote Sensing in Survey and Operational Efficiency.

The technology is built on a cloud ecosystem using AWS and targets multiple markets—commercial, government, law enforcement, and humanitarian—focusing on drone imagery processing and rapid explosives threat identification.

Safe Pro’s AI technology leverages drone imagery and computer vision, built on a dataset of over 2.1 million images, to detect explosives threats and create high-resolution 2D and 3D maps guiding on-ground teams; to date, more than 38,000 detections have been mapped across about 10,900 hectares.

SpotlightAI combines AI-augmented drone imagery and computer vision to enhance accuracy, speed, and cost efficiency in demining, aiming to transform global humanitarian efforts.

The system analyzes drone imagery to detect small explosive threats and produce detailed maps to guide ground operations.

Safe Pro Group and NPA leaders underscore the potential transformative impact for Ukraine and other UXO-contaminated regions in nearly 60 countries.

Daniel Erdberg, Safe Pro Group's Chairman and CEO, emphasized AI and drone impact in restoring land to productive use in UXO-affected regions and noted ongoing collaboration with NPA.

The technology accelerates the initial identification phase of demining, helping prioritize areas for clearance and potentially shortening timelines while reducing costs.

Data indicate improved accuracy, faster survey speeds, and substantial labor cost reductions, affecting ROI considerations for multi-million-dollar demining budgets managed by governments and humanitarian donors.