UAE: Mums Create AI Teddy Bear To Help Neurodivergent Kids Communicate Better

This cute and cuddly teddy bear with large blue eyes may look like any other toy, but it has something extra hidden inside. Using artificial intelligence, the bear can understand speech, respond to children, and even pick up on their emotions. Designed to be more than just a companion, the AI-powered toy has been created to help children, especially those who are neurodivergent, feel more comfortable expressing themselves and sharing what is on their minds.

Born out of a need to understand her child, Fatemeh Jahedpari, came up with the AI teddy bear idea for personal reasons.“I wanted to make something for my child, because she is too introverted and I knew that there are some issues in her head that she's not sharing with me. So, I couldn't find someone trustful that can intermediate between me and her,” Jahedpari.

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After telling fellow educator Nafiseh Gharavi, who has a background in education, both decided to expand on the idea for it to be inclusive to all children with different neurological needs.

They founded OnKaru, the 'AI Teddy Bear', as a way to help neurodivergent children feel more comfortable in sharing their feelings. Neurodiversity encompasses the wide range of differences in how people's brains function; it includes neurological variations like autism, ADHD, ADD, and dyslexia.

How OnKaru works

The teddy bear is physical, fitted with an AI-powered device that reads the child's emotions and reacts to them. Whatever information is garnered from the AI is then stored in a cloud, which gets sent to the parents via an app. For parents, the bear could act as a bridge when children struggle to communicate. For example, if a child repeatedly expresses sadness or anxiety to the teddy, the system alerts parents discreetly, allowing them to intervene early.

“Children want to have access to AI, and you cannot stop them. But it's not safe to let them to know everything. With this toy, children have access, but the responses will be filtered based on their age,” Gharavi explained.

Jahedpari is a specialist in AI, having acquired her PhD in computer science from the University of Bath, England, with a specialisation in AI. She worked on the project on and off since 2023 but decided to drop everything else and focus her attention on it.

Although OnKaru has not yet been released to the public, the owners told Khaleej Times that they are in the early stages and hope to reveal the product in Expand North Star, an annual tech startup event which will take place this year from October 12 to 15.

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