KalaNusa

Preserve the past, empower the future.

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🧠 Inspiration

Indonesia holds one of the richest cultural heritages in the world — with thousands of languages, ancient manuscripts, and traditions passed down through generations. Yet today, many of these cultural elements are on the verge of being forgotten, undocumented and disconnected from the younger generation. We were inspired to build KalaNusa as a bridge between heritage and technology, allowing everyone — especially youth — to reconnect with and help preserve our shared cultural legacy through AI and digital tools.

⚙️ What it does

KalaNusa is a mobile-first cultural preservation app with two key AI-driven features:

1. Kala the Lutung – an interactive AI chatbot that acts as your cultural companion. Kala answers questions about Indonesian traditions, folklore, and local wisdom — all in a fun, friendly, and accessible way.

2. AI-Powered Scripture Scanner – users can scan artifacts or traditional scripts. The app uses OCR and AI to transcribe, transliterate, and analyze the text. Submissions are reviewed by admins and cultural experts before being published to a Digital Public Library.

Additional features: User Profiles with gamified progress and achievement badges Contribution Tracker to visualize your role in preserving culture A Community-curated archive that grows as more users contribute

🛠️ How we built it 1. Frontend : React Native (Expo) 2. Backend : Supabase 3. AI & Chatbot : Mastra AI, OpenAI (GPT-4o Mini) with custom cultural prompt engineering & RAG 4. Design : Figma

🚧 Challenges we ran into

  1. OCR accuracy on Aksara Nusantara scripts like Javanese
  2. Fine-tuning Kala’s responses to be informative but culturally sensitive
  3. Time constraints — deciding what to prioritize for a working MVP

🏆 Accomplishments that we're proud of Functional MVP with AI chatbot and working document scanner A complete contribution-to-archive user journey Making cultural tech cool and accessible for Gen Z

📚 What we learned AI can unlock real-world cultural preservation Prompt design is crucial to make AI feel alive and trustworthy There is huge untapped interest in cultural education through tech

🚀 What's next for KalaNusa

  1. Train custom OCR for Javanese, Sanskrit, etc.
  2. Add voice features and narration for better accessibility
  3. Expand Kala’s knowledge to include more regional content

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