The Democratic Republic of Congo, a burgeoning travel destination, has had to deal with a variety of issues over the past few decades. As a result, this is magnified most within the capital city of Kinshasa. Recently though, there have been some major strides made within the business infrastructure of the city to welcome the growing influx of tourists as well as newcomers to the city from rural areas. One move has a futuristic feel to it.
The latest additions to the Kinshasa cityscape come in the form of towering robots. The robots are in place to help ease traffic and prevent accidents on the city’s streets. There are five in total that have been in place since 2013, and two of them have been directing traffic since then. Kinshasa has dealt with serious after-effects of bad traffic; in a report, it was found that since 2007, close to 3,000 people lost their lives due to accidents on the roads. The robots are fitted with red and green lights within each hand to aid in the flow of bustling cars and motorcycles. They also are equipped with cameras stored within a rotating chest cavity that captures images in real time and transmits it back to the police headquarters. The robots are unique in that they can not only stand up to a climate that can be overwhelming in terms of heat, but that they are solar-powered. The aluminum traffic police assistants have gotten accolades from both the police and the motorists. To that end, three new robots will be joining those already situated in Kinshasa, complete with names: Mwaluke, Tamuke and Kisanga. These robots were approved by a board comprised wholly of women Congolese engineers.
Theresa Izay, the president of this group known as Women’s Technology, remarked that these robots ‘react much more quickly’ than the previous models. Each robot costs US$30,467 to produce. Izay also said that she had sent a proposal to city authorities and the governor to approve the purchase of 30 more such robots to be installed along the nation’s highways. There’s already been a shipment of five of the robots to the province of Katanga in the southeast part of the country.
