Thérèse Kirongozi: Robotic Traffic Controllers
Since 2013, humanoid traffic robots have graced the streets of Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Designed by Thérèse Kirongozi, these robots monitor and direct motor and pedestrian traffic flow on the busy streets of Kinshasa. Following her brother’s death in a tragic traffic accident years before, Kirongozi decided to leverage her technical know-how to address the problem of chaotic traffic. Her robots combine the effectiveness of street lights with an aesthetic that puts a smile of wonder on others’ faces.
Figure 1: A traffic robot on the streets of Kinshasa [1].
Stylized as “robocops,” these metal behemoths are even equipped with voices and sometimes sing songs when there are children crossing the road [2]. Each robot is built differently, as if it had its own personality. They even have cameras in their eyes that live feed to the police. This adds to their aesthetic and value: one can run a red traffic light, but one might be less inclined to run a red robot when it is staring at you with its police-watching eyes [3]. The robots are also solar powered so that they do not rely on the city’s power grid [4].
Figure 2: Another traffic robot at an intersection [3].
Kirongozi’s robots demonstrate the underlying principles of global design: a community’s needs are identified and addressed with engineering solutions that are designed specifically for the community, adding cultural significance. A group of women known as Wotech, headed by Kirongozi, manufacture these robots ensuring that the engineering solution stays relevant to the problem through proximity to the issue [4].
Figure 3: Thérèse Kirongozi with one of her robots [5].
When engineering solutions are designed to meet community-centric specifications, their impact is more far-reaching. Informed design grounds the engineering, and people are more likely to adapt to the technology and embrace its use; when engineering is poorly designed, it can seem undesirable or even repulsive.
REFERENCES
[1] Nsehe, Mfonobong. "Meet the Congolese Entrepreneur Who Created Humanoid Traffic Robots." WeeTracker, 2 Apr. 2019, weetracker.com/2019/04/02/congolese-entrepreneur-therese-izay-kirongozi/.
[2] "The Woman Behind Congo’s Traffic Robots." BBC World Service, 2024, www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0k3sq2q.
[3] "The Woman Inventor Behind Those Traffic Safety Robots in DRC." Top Africa News, 7 Jan. 2022, www.topafricanews.com/2022/01/07/the-woman-inventor-behind-those-traffic-safety-robots-in-drc/.
[4] "African Inventor Thérèse Izay Kirongozi: The Mind Behind the Traffic Robot." Gesatech, 2021, gesatech.com/african-inventor-therese-izay-kirongozi-traffic-robot/.
[5] "Thérèse Kirongozi." Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 15 Feb. 2024, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Th%C3%A9r%C3%A8se_Kirongozi.
To cite this article:
Conover, Dylan. “Thérèse Kirongozi: Robotic Traffic Controllers.” The BYU Design Review, 5 March 2026, https://www.designreview.byu.edu/collections/therese-kirongozi-robotic-traffic-controllers.
