Today in awesome inventions by women: traffic robocops!
Traffic violations are a major source of headaches, especially when it comes to accidents that could have been avoided. Now, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a group of female engineers have built the next generation in the fight against continual offenders, according to The Guardian.
With a population of nine million people, there had been a concern among officials about the growing number of road deaths – as well as the number of accidents that had gone unreported. Now, three large robots designed by the group Women’s Technology have been installed in the capital of Kinshasa. Since Tuesday, they have been recording traffic flow as well as keeping an eye on all the hustle and bustle via surveillance cameras installed in their chests. The camera feeds are monitored at a traffic control room in the city.
The robots are also equipped with traffic lights on their hands – red and green – and even have their own names: Tamuke, Mwaluke and Kisanga. They each cost around 21,500 euros to build – or $27,500. These three robots were part of a new generation of models that were recently installed – but previous models had been monitoring traffic since 2013!
Therese Izay, the president of Women’s Technology, believes the installation of the robots will definitely be more of a help than a hindrance to the overall traffic situation in Kinshasa.
“In our city, someone can commit an offence [sic] and run away, and say that no one saw him,” she told The Guardian. “But now, day or night, we’ll be able to see him in real time and he will pay his fine like in all the serious countries of the world.”
Izay has also submitted a proposal for 30 more robots to be sent to various locations all across the country, and the local police have been fully supportive of the idea.
It’s safe to say that this is something that could really take off – not just in the DR, but all over the world. Could these models actually be the beginning of the RoboCop era? Only time will tell. For now, we’re pretty psyched about the news that a group of women are the pioneers on this awesome project.
[Featured image via.]
