Thérèse Kirongozi

There are many robots in the world

Thérèse Izay Kirongozi (born 3 June 1973) is a Congolese industrial engineer. She is notable for designing traffic robots that were initially placed in two locations in Kinshasa towards the end of 2013. By 2015 five robots were in use in Kinshasa[3] and one in Lubumbashi. The use of robots as traffic lights may be unique to the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Thérèse designed and developed solar-powered robots that detect pedestrians, educate them about road safety, and transmit data to a control centre for real-time monitoring. Her robots have been installed in several cities, improving traffic safety, creating jobs, and inspiring women to pursue STEM careers.

Quotes

• Science has no sex. [1]

• The idea of manufacturing robots came from information I read in the report of the World Health Organization (WHO) on road safety for children; also because my brother died following a traffic accident coming from school when we were still in elementary school. I was very shocked. [2]

• Today we have reduced these accidents by 60 per cent, so for us, it is really something very important, that we have come to understand that road safety must be practised in relation to the regulations and in relation to the signals. [3]

• We are looking to find solutions.[4]

• If we look at the evolution of the world today, the revolution of artificial intelligence, we are pushing more young girls to follow suit more at the university level in fields like science, technology, engineering and mathematics, because we have found that the future of mankind rests on this kind of option. [5]

• Robotics, astronautical engineering… is not made only for men and for me, I can say that science has no sex because we have the same formulas that we are given from elementary school to university, boys and girls alike. [6]

• We are in a very dynamic world. There are jobs that will disappear. For example, the bank will no longer need a lot of cashiers because it will be the robots that will replace them. It is up to us to know what jobs we can teach our children and above all how to be more entrepreneurial to create wealth from know-how, from technology, in order to help others. [7]

• There are many robots in the world, but a robot handling road safety and traffic control, that's truly 'Made in Congo'. [8]