FARI’s Brussels Conference is welcoming Thérèse Izay Kirongozo, the Congolese inventor of the social innovative robocop that has been working to address decades-long traffic issues in the Democratic Republic of Congo since 2013.
Thérèse is the head of an association called Women’s Technology (Wotech) and is the engineer of Congo’s robocop. Her remarkable invention was known for its effectiveness in monitoring the traffic and deterring drivers from breaking road regulations in Congo.
The aluminum robocop is solar-powered and stands at 2.5 m high and weighs 250kg and is equipped with rotating chests and surveillance cameras to record traffic flow and send real-time images to the police station. According to the Guardian, it was also seen as a hope to reduce the country’s high traffic accident rate that has claimed 2,276 lives from 2007 to 2015. One of her cool robocops was also brought to Belgium and is displayed at the Royal Museum for Central Africa in Tervuren, Belgium.
Meet with Thérèse at FARI Conference 2022 in July to find out more about her robocop and other cool initiatives of Wotech!
Writeup: Sokcheng Thai, FARI student collaborator