ZED.AI

Meet Zed, the AI study buddy tailored to you. It learns your courses, quizzes you with your class material, and helps you actually understand. Like the smartest kid in class—minus the weird.

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Inspiration

We hate studying by ourselves, but have a little too much fun in groups. Although it is nice to study together, sometimes it calls for a solo lock-in, and that's why we built Zed, your AI study buddy who knows your courses, keeps you focused, and makes your solo lock-ins more productive and less lonely.

What it does

Zed is your autonomous AI study partner that connects directly to your student account and responds to your voice to create a personalized and highly productive learning experience. Ask questions about deadlines, study tips, or how to approach a problem—Zed will provide guidance that CHALLENGES your brain to learn rather than simply giving you answers to copy.

🔐 Authenticates as Your Study Buddy Securely logs into your Canvas account via Auth0 and reads and learns from it. Zed will use this to become just like the most studious person in your class.

What it does Zed is your autonomous AI study partner that connects directly to your student account and responds to your voice to create a personalized and highly productive learning experience. Ask questions about deadlines, study tips, or how to approach a problem—Zed will provide guidance that challenges your brain to learn rather than simply giving you answers to copy. 🔐 Authenticates as Your Study Buddy

Securely logs into your Canvas/Blackboard account via Auth0—just like a studious classmate who has access to the same materials you do Encrypted credential storage ensures your login information stays safe while enabling autonomous course access

📚 Intelligently Scrapes Your Actual Courses Automatically downloads your syllabus, your professor's lecture slides, and your specific assignments from your enrolled courses. Extracts exam dates, topics, and deadlines using the Best Use of Gemini 2.5 Computer; no manual input needed.

🎤 Provide Natural Voice Interaction Wake word activation with Porcupine, simply say: "Hey Zed!" Receive spoken responses via ElevenLabs text-to-speech that sound like a supportive study buddy Study while cooking, exercising, or simulate a non-distracting study buddy

Zed can:

🎯 Generate Personalized Quizzes from Your Professor's Content

  • Every quiz question comes from slides you've actually been assigned—not generic textbook banks
  • References specific slides: "Remember what Professor Smith explained on Lecture 5, slide 12 about metaphase?"
  • Uses Socratic questioning tailored to how your professor teaches—provides hints that make you think, never direct answers
  • Challenges your understanding: "What would happen if you changed this variable? Why do you think that?"

📅 Create Smart Study Plans Based on Your Real Deadlines

  • Analyzes your syllabus to build study schedules around your actual exam dates: "Bio exam in 5 days, covering chapters 5-7"
  • Balances study time across all your enrolled courses based on upcoming deadlines and your workload Adapts daily: "Today: Review Cell Division (2 hours), Practice 10 problems from your Physics problem set (1 hour)"

🤝 Track Progress and Adapt to Your Learning Patterns

  • Monitors which concepts you struggle with across all your courses Celebrates your personal milestones with encouraging voice feedback: "5-day study streak! You've mastered Chapter 6—moving to Chapter 7!"
  • Keep you on track and off the distractions!
  • Never solves your homework (with the right reasons), instead guides you through the thinking process

How we built it

Backend

  • Gemini 2.5 Computer Use API: Autonomous browser agent built with Playwright that navigates Canvas like a human
  • Gemini API: Analyzes course materials, generates quiz questions, and creates study plans
  • ElevenLabs API: Natural text-to-speech to simulate a study buddy. Also, using voice-to-text input from users
  • Auth0: Secure credential management for classroom platform logins and curating for specific students Flask REST API: Threaded agent runner, manages authenticated sessions, handles /transcribe_audio endpoint

Frontend (React + Tailwind + Vite)

  • UI built with React and styled with Tailwind CSS
  • Porcupine Wake Word Detection: Custom wake phrase triggers voice interaction (runs locally in browser)
  • ElevenLabs TTS: Flask backend returns synthesized speech for Zed's responses

Voice Pipeline Flow:

  • Porcupine detects your custom wake phrase in the browser
  • ElevenLabs API captures your voice command
  • Frontend sends audio to Flask /transcribe_audio endpoint
  • ElevenLabs synthesizes Zed's voice response
  • Frontend plays audio back to the user

Challenges we ran into

  • Gemini 2.5 Computer Use is an entirely new product that we had lots of fun experimenting with, but it was a huge pain to create a chain of commands.
  • Connecting all of our features to create a personalized and smarter AI

Accomplishments that we're proud of

  • Built a full voice loop, Zed listens, thinks, and talks back like a real study buddy.
  • Integrated Canvas login through Auth0 and automated course scraping with Gemini 2.5.
  • Combined Gemini, ElevenLabs, and Porcupine into one smooth experience.
  • Designed a personality that encourages and challenges you instead of giving easy answers.
  • Pulled off a working demo that feels human, not robotic.

What we learned

  • How to connect different AI tools to work together seamlessly.
  • The importance of security and privacy when handling student data.
  • How voice tone and personality can motivate learning.
  • That teamwork and quick problem-solving matter just as much as code.

What's next for Zed

  • Smarter memory so Zed learns your study style and progress.
  • Calendar and reminder integration for better planning.
  • Gamified streaks and rewards to make studying fun.
  • “Study Together” mode so friends can use their own Zeds in sync.
  • Lighter, offline version for local use.

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