Africa innovates Magazine -AI4DEV - Flipbook - Page 27
Fear no forest
because it is dense.
African Proverb
P G UA R D – T H E R O B O T
To help enforce lockdown restrictions
during the pandemic and slow the
spread of the Coronavirus, the Tunisian
Interior Ministry, sought the support
of local company ENOVA Robotics –
In 2014 Anis Sahbani founded Enova Robotics in the
eastern coastal Tunisian town of Hamman Sousse. A
year later he produced PGuard – a robot-police officer
‘Robocop’ to carry out security patrols. Little did he
know that 6 years later his invention would deliver
smart policing services to help curb the spread of the
Coronavirus pandemic.
PGuard is remotely operated and is equipped with
thermal and infrared imaging cameras together with
a sound and light alarm system. The robot was widely
used in use in the Tunisian capital, to help effect
a COVID-19 curfew. “What are you doing? Show
me your ID. You don’t know there’s a lockdown?”
– PGuard would automatically call out lockdown
violators on the streets.
The success of PGuard has seen more orders for the
‘Robocop’ by both local and international buyers. Enova Robotics now plans to launch another robot in a
Tunis hospital to help COVID-19 patients to communicate with their families.
SHOWCASING AFRICAN INNOVATION 27
Photo: Alamy.com
producers of PGuard the robot.
