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When Amine Akhbach turns off the light and lies down in his bed at his family home in the village of Tafza, in the Al Haouz region, sleep does not come easily. He closes his eyes, but his mind remains wide awake, filled with thoughts of wires, bulbs, devices, and solutions to problems in his unfinished inventions. Sometimes, in the middle of the night, a smile appears on his face… as if he has just found the missing piece to an idea that had been troubling him.
Amine, 14, shares with Yabiladi with a smile: «Every time I close my eyes, I start imagining what I want to invent. Even when I’m stuck on a technical problem, the solution comes to me just as I’m about to fall asleep. It makes me very happy».
Since childhood, Amine has been more interested in taking things apart than simply using them. It started with simple objects. «My father once bought me a small toy car that didn’t move, so I opened it up and reassembled it until I managed to make it work», he recalls. That moment sparked everything.
A child’s curiosity leading to innovation
At school, Amine did more than just follow lessons, he paid attention to details others overlooked. At the age of five, he noticed how students would all shout at once to get a turn to speak, often frustrating teachers. That’s when he imagined a simple device: a button that would light up a green bulb, allowing the teacher to see who wanted to participate, without the chaos.
While most children spend their free time playing, Amine, nicknamed «the young inventor», finds joy in the weekly market in Ourika, which he visits every Monday. There, among broken and discarded devices, he finds his «treasures». He buys what he can, then returns home to begin another journey: dismantling, observing, and understanding how each wire works before putting everything back together. He also learns through videos on YouTube.
«My father supports me both financially and morally. Whenever I have an idea, I share it with him, and we go to the market together to look for what I need», he says.
Over time, his experiments have evolved into real inventions. He built a small helicopter and, following the Al Haouz earthquake in 2023, created a device to detect aftershocks, trying to understand and respond to what was happening around him.
A smart helmet for the visually impaired
Among his most notable inventions is a smart helmet designed for people with visual impairments. Equipped with sensors, it detects obstacles and alerts the user through vibrations, helping them move safely. The idea started simply: first with a stick, then, after finding a helmet, he imagined turning it into a detection device. He also developed an interactive robotic dog to teach programming and artificial intelligence, making learning more engaging.
He says with quiet confidence that each invention takes days of work, often requiring multiple attempts before succeeding.
His passion has not gone unnoticed. Amine has received several certificates of recognition and has taken part in national innovation forums. On November 19, UNICEF selected him as a young advocate for children’s rights in Morocco, on the eve of World Children’s Day, in recognition of his journey in innovation.
Yet every night, the same scene repeats itself: a child closes his eyes, but his mind stays awake, building ideas that have yet to come to life, while dreaming of becoming «an inventor who serves my country».
