De Ronde, WillisBosscha, Peter AMarais, Stephen TPretorius, A2025-02-212025-02-212024-102261-236Xhttps://doi.org/10.1051/matecconf/202440604015http://hdl.handle.net/10204/14079South Africa needs rapidly deployable surveillance in situations such as public marches and periods of unrest. As these events can often last several hours, short-term solutions, such as multi-rotor drones, are generally not feasible. The proposed solution, the Automated Robotic Guardian for Urban Surveillance (ARGUS) platform, is a rapidly deployable pole-climbing robot for surveillance and situational awareness. This paper outlines the system's manufacture, testing, and analysis. The platform was tested under various laboratory and real-world conditions against predefined user specifications. Test results demonstrate that the system can ascend and descend multiple existing pole infrastructures and maintain a hold position without the motors consuming power while on the pole.FulltextenAutomated Robotic Guardian for Urban SurveillanceARGUSPole-climbing robotSurveillanceSituational awarenessArticleN/A