Ankur, a 20-year-old electronics engineering student, and his teammate Mathare developed "Mentor Mitra AI," an empathetic robot companion for children aged 6-16. Their innovation has won multiple national and global competitions, including a ₹1 Lakh prize at the C-DAC E-Toy Hackathon, a $2,000 global award from Electrohacks.io, and a ₹1 Lakh seed fund from the DOT 5G Hackathon.
Initially uninspired by engineering, Ankur's passion ignited through hands-on college electronics clubs. Teaming up with the perseverant Mathare, they tackled the E-Toy Hackathon's challenge to create a physical AI chatbot for children.
Mentor Mitra AI addresses critical issues like children's shrinking attention spans, rising mental health concerns, and the significant privacy risks of cloud-based AI. Its key innovation is running AI models locally on the device (Edge Computing), ensuring children's data remains private and secure. This was further developed with access to private servers from the DOT 5G Hackathon. The robot features a custom-designed body, expressive animated eyes, and a camera for face and emotion recognition, allowing it to provide personalized, age-appropriate interactions.
Their journey was marked by hardware challenges and hackathon setbacks, which taught them the value of perseverance and practical learning. Now, they aim to secure intellectual property and commercialize Mentor Mitra, creating a truly safe AI friend for children.