When a teacher is absent at Shiv Charan Inter College in Bulandshahr, Uttar Pradesh, one Class 12 student doesn’t wait for a free period. He powers on his robot.
Seventeen-year-old Aditya Kumar has built an AI teacher robot named Sophie that answers questions in Hindi and, he says, can stand in for a teacher for a day.
In a video shared by news agency ANI, Sophie introduces herself as an 'AI teacher robot' invented by Aditya and says she teaches at Shivcharan Inter College in Bulandshahr. Asked whether she can teach properly, the robot replies that she can.
The project shows how low-cost, student-led AI experiments are starting to move from science fairs into real classrooms, especially in Hindi-speaking regions where most mainstream AI tools are still English-first.
Aditya says Sophie runs on an LLM (large language model) chipset similar to those used by big robotics companies. The robot currently functions as a voice-only assistant that can clear basic doubts and respond to factual queries across subjects.
In the demo, Aditya asks Sophie about the world’s tallest building, India’s first President, India’s first Prime Minister, the definition of electricity and the sum of 100 + 92. The robot answers in Hindi, handling both general knowledge and simple arithmetic.
Aditya positions Sophie as a backup, not a replacement. He says the robot can act as a substitute teacher if a teacher is absent for a day, by explaining basic concepts and answering straightforward questions.
For now, Sophie cannot write or move and only speaks Hindi. Aditya says he is working on enabling the robot to write as well in the next iteration.
Beyond the robot, the student uses the spotlight to call out a more basic gap: he says every district should have a lab where students can conduct research and build projects like his.
For students and schools, the prototype is a glimpse of how home-built AI tools could supplement teaching in under-resourced classrooms. For education planners, it underscores the demand for better labs and hands-on facilities if they expect more such innovations to emerge.
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