Typewriter AI

Typewriter AI, an assistive digital literacy tool for all.

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Inspiration

My idea for creating a Typewriter AI, a type of assistive technology, was inspired by merging the performance tracking capacity of TypingTest.com and the functional setting of Microsoft Word. I conceptualized creating a concept that would merge both ideas and would allow a student with disabilities to have a better learning experience through an audio typing assistant that would give instantaneous feedback to the student before and after they type a character into a computer using a keyboard.

What it does

Typewriter AI acts as an immediate companion for students. As the user writes, behind the scenes, it monitors speed in terms of words per minute (WPM) and accuracy, akin to a typing test. At the same time, Typewriter AI also functions as a word processing tool that "speaks back" to the user before and after they type. Every press of a character, space, or backspace key corresponds to an audio signal or phoneme, helping the students.

How we built it

I developed Typewriter AI on Google AI Studio, which uses React and TypeScript to utilize the Gemini API for producing dynamic and multilingual stories. This ensures that there is fresh content every time. For developing the assistive technology part of this project, it was critical to use the web speech API for developing the audio assistant that speaks out every character. Along with this, performance metrics such as WPM and accuracy rates have also been implemented for student performance.

Challenges we ran into

Deploying the application using Cloud Run (cloud account billing setup error) and Firebase Hosting, having the Gemini API for story generation work without having to upgrade to a Blaze plan.

Accomplishments that you are proud of

The enormous potential that Typewriter AI offers when deployed through Google Cloud Platform; instant scalability across entire school districts. By integrating Gemini-driven story creation and real-time audio assistance into the classroom, students with disabilities will have a new way to learn independently, providing them with a voice-led writing experience. The ability for instructors to manage multiple profiles for students and to create formal progress reports will turn what is initially just a typing tool into a fully-fledged academic aid, proving that with the proper cloud infrastructure, we can enhance digital literacy for thousands of learners around the world.

What we learned

There is nothing "one size fits all" with accessibility, sensory reinforcement is essential to learning. When we use all our senses to learn, our brains can work more effectively.

What's next for Typewriter AI

We plan to add more languages and a special Exam Mode, which will be a dedicated environment for exams, to go with our existing performance tracking features.

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