Darwin the Duck

Learn by teaching - where AI becomes your student

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Team

Natalie: Project Manager, Frontend(React), Video Voice Actor

Paul: Frontend(React), UI Design, 3D Model(three.js), Video Producer

Kevin: Frontend(React)

Darvin: Prompt Engineering, Frontend(React), Backend(AWS)

Inspiration

AI spoon-feeds information, creating passive learning. We flipped this - what if AI became the student, forcing learners to be active teachers? For example, many programmers explain their code to rubber ducks to solve problems.

We wondered: what if this duck could actually respond and learn?

What it does

Darwin the Duck transforms you from a passive learner into an active teacher. Instead of receiving information from AI, you explain concepts to Darwin - a curious AI student who doesn't know much about your subject.

After each explanation, you receive feedback on clarity, accuracy, engagement, and suggestions for improvement. These feedbacks are reflected in Darwin's emotional states, energy levels, and understanding meters. The 3D duck model animates based on these real-time metrics.

As the conversation goes on, Darwin adapts questions to challenge your understanding, acting like a real curious student.

How we built it

Two AI agents (Claude Sonnet 3.5) running simultaneously on Amazon Bedrock:

  • Darwin Agent: Acts as a curious student, asking questions and responding to explanations.
  • Evaluation Agent: Analyzes teaching quality and provides real-time feedback.

Frontend (React), Backend (AWS), 3D Model (three.js)

Challenges we ran into

Ensuring "Student" AI Behavior

One of our biggest challenges was making sure Darwin actually acts like a curious, naive student rather than a know-it-all AI. We had to carefully craft prompts and implement personality constraints to prevent the AI from:

  • Giving away answers or showing too much knowledge
  • Using overly sophisticated language or concepts
  • Acting like a tutor instead of a student
  • Breaking character during complex explanations

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Gamified Learning Without Gimmicks

Instead of relying on superficial rewards or points, we created genuine engagement through emotional states and real-time feedback.

An App We Actually Want to Use

We genuinely find the app useful when we are trying to find gaps in our understandings of a topic.

What we learned

So much.

What's next for Duck App

  • Voice interaction
  • Rubric generated by custom curriculum

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