Patronus.pet

Inspiration

Every day, countless children struggle with social challenges — from feeling excluded to facing bullying at school or online. Many don’t yet have the emotional vocabulary to say “I’m scared,” “I feel alone,” or “Someone was mean to me.”

Instead, they turn inward. They can even create imaginary friends. And those friends — though invisible — often become their first emotional support system.

But what if that imaginary friend could actually listen, respond, and help?

As a couple — Roman (engineer) and Anna (designer) — we set out to build something that bridges that invisible emotional world with thoughtful, supportive technology. We wanted to create a magical presence that would empower kids to express themselves while helping parents understand their child’s needs — without breaking privacy or trust.

What it does

Patronus.pet — an AI-powered imaginary friend that listens via a wearable pin, supports emotional growth through conversation, and gently keeps parents informed through high-level summaries.

Patronus.pet is designed to be: • A safe space for kids to express, explore, and imagine • A compassionate listener in moments of confusion or distress • A quiet but insightful companion to help parents spot red flags early • A friend who grows with the child — and glows when they need it most

How we built it

• Emotion Detection: keyword parsing to determine mood
• Voice Output: ElevenLabs generates personalized, child-friendly responses
• 3D Avatar: React Three Fiber with skin changes and mood-based animations
• Mobile App: Built using Bolt.new (Expo)
• Voice Input: Omi AI dev kit (necklace) records and sends audio to the app
• Parent Dashboard: Time tracking, emotional summaries, topic filtering

Challenges we ran into

• Balancing privacy boundaries — we intentionally do not share direct conversations from the child with parents. Instead, we generate high-level summaries to preserve trust and emotional autonomy for the child
• Designing a 3D avatar that could express emotion without being uncanny
• Syncing voice input from hardware and mapping that to real-time avatar changes
• Balancing the magical personality of a pet with its practical, supportive purpose

What we learned

• A single AI voice, done right, can build real emotional connection
• Simplicity in parent dashboards goes a long way in creating trust
• Emotional tech can be warm, playful, and meaningful when designed with care

What's next for Patronus.pet

• Expand the avatar: Add more skins, personality traits, animations
• Dynamic personas, character voices, bedtime mode
• Build a full parent dashboard with insights, mood graphs, topic editing
• Develop the toy further: A soft, wearable plushie with more interactivity
• Pilot with real families to refine tone, pacing, and daily rituals

Built With

• bolt.new
• elevenlabs
• next
• omi
• supabase
• tailwind