Tech & Sci
14:20, 13-Aug-2017
'Robocop’ maintains traffic flow in Congo
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In the Democratic Republic of Congo, a home made robotic traffic cop has become the ultimate answer to nagging traffic challenges in major cities in the country.
Kinshasha, like many African capitals, have unruly traffic that motorists usually spend hours in traffic jams.
In 2013, two robots were installed on the side of two intersections. The result has been astounding, the motorists love them. In 2015, three more bots were planted at three other main traffic junctions, according to The Guardian.
The 8-foot traffic robots were from a pilot study but authorities quickly bought into the innovation and these days they have become a common sight in the DRC.
Therese Izay is the brain behind the innovation. She designed the robots to solve Kinshasa's traffic problems and the success here has now gotten her looking to expand her business to other African countries.
The robots are fitted with cameras so they provide real time video feed of all traffic violations to a central terminal controlled by security agents. The idea is traffic offenders can then be tracked for prosecution.