Two brothers from Afghanistan - Mahmud and Massoud Hassani - have developed a drone to locate, detect, and detonate landmines.

The drone can locate landmines in a minefield with the help of an integrated 3D mapping system and a metal detector. It uses a robotic arm to place a small detonator on top of the mines before setting off the device remotely and thus, successfully detonating the mines.

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The Afghan brothers were inspired to develop the drone prototype to detect and destroy explosive devices due to the memory of the widespread destruction caused by the landmines left over from the 1980s when Afghan rebels fought Soviet forces.

Mahmud Hassani and his brother Massoud are first-hand witnesses to the damage landmines can do to anyone who is unlucky enough to stumble upon them. Growing up on the outskirts of the Afghan capital, it was very normal for the brothers to play around the landmines, Mahmud Hassani told Reuters, recalling the patch of land near his childhood home.

The drone, named "Mine Kafon Drone" by the brothers, was on Wednesday featured in the NT100, a list by Britain-based charity Nominet Trust of Innovations, which promotes the use technology to tackle major world problems.

According to the Hassani brothers, who are living in Netherlands at the moment, their invention is up to 120 times cheaper and 20 times faster than traditional mine-clearing techniques.

According to the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL), around 6,461 people were killed or injured by mines, unexploded weapons, and victim-activated explosive devices left behind after wars across the world in the year 2015 alone. More than three-quarters of the victims were civilians while thirty-eight percent were children.

Afghanistan recorded the highest number of mine-related casualties in the world with around 1,310 people killed or wounded last year. There are an estimated ten million landmines planted in the country.