--- description: Find out why Improved Cavity Access Machine is one of the best inventions of 2023 title: Improved Cavity Access Machine: The 200 Best Inventions of 2023 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbf6488001a9adf1a/698a418cd07533f730e6e80c/best-inventions-2023-crg-automation-cavity-access.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Oct 24, 2023 # Disarming Chemical Weapons Improved Cavity Access Machine by [Tara Law](/author/tara-law/) ## Tara Law Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close  While the U.S. has long urged other countries to destroy their chemical weapon stockpiles, it didn’t eliminate the last of its mustard gas mortars until this summer. Part of the problem was that decades-old liquid mustard had coagulated into a “greasy, tar-like substance,” says James DeSmet, the CEO of CRG Automation. In less than two years, however, a team that included CRG cleansed the weapons with a robotic system it designed and constructed, the Improved Cavity Access Machine, which disassembled, power-washed, and vacuum-cleaned the mortars. The project was able to safely destroy nearly 47,000 canisters before a convention deadline in September. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/best-inventions-2023/6324513/improved-cavity-access-machine/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/best-inventions-2023/6324513/improved-cavity-access-machine/"},"headline":"Disarming Chemical Weapons","datePublished":"2023-10-24T11:00:35.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-03T00:22:56.911Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/best-inventions-2023/6324513/improved-cavity-access-machine/","keywords":["list","franchise","ecommerce","Magazine","best inventions","Best Inventions 2023"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbf6488001a9adf1a/698a418cd07533f730e6e80c/best-inventions-2023-crg-automation-cavity-access.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tara Law","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tara-law/"}],"creator":"Tara Law","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbf6488001a9adf1a/698a418cd07533f730e6e80c/best-inventions-2023-crg-automation-cavity-access.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/best-inventions-2023/6324513/improved-cavity-access-machine/","name":"Disarming Chemical Weapons"}}]}] ```