Koode AI

AVANTHIKA KS — Sun, 25 Oct 2026 17:51:22 +0000

This is a submission for the Hacktoberfest Open-Source AI Challenge Week 3: Slow and Steady

Koode AI (കൂടെ AI) — A Voice-First, Open-Weight Elderly Companion That Protects Independence and Medical Privacy

Tagline: Always by your side • എന്നും കൂടെയുണ്ട്

Target Audience: Older adults (60+) seeking daily independence without fear of confusing technology.

What I Built

Most modern technology actively excludes older adults: fonts are minuscule, navigation is buried behind multi-step menus, passwords get forgotten, and interfaces are designed for digital natives. For seniors managing age-related cognitive decline, vision impairment (presbyopia), or motor tremors (arthritis), technology often brings anxiety rather than assistance. They live in constant worry of two everyday scenarios:

"Did I already take my blood pressure tablet tonight, or will I accidentally double-dose?"
"Is this urgent bank SMS real, or is someone trying to steal my savings?"

I built Koode AI (കൂടെ AI)—named after the Malayalam word Koode, meaning "always with you / by your side".

Koode AI is a voice-first, elder-friendly companion application built for an older adult in my neighborhood. Instead of a generic chatbot, it solves the real everyday friction points of growing older:

Voice-First in Malayalam & English: Seniors speak naturally into a 128px glowing microphone button; Sarvam AI (saaras:v4) transcribes spoken speech into text with dialect accuracy.
Open-Weight Gemma 2 Reasoning: Google's Gemma 2 (gemma2:2b) interprets what the user said, extracting structured reminder details without hallucinating dosages or guessing missing times.
Cognitive Reassurance Timestamps: When a senior marks their medication done, Koode displays an explicit confirmation stamp: "✓ Done at 8:15 PM". This removes the daily anxiety of accidental double-dosing.
"Help Me Understand" Scam & Notice Explainer: Seniors paste confusing hospital discharge notices or bank messages. Koode breaks them down into 4 clear parts: In Simple Words, Important Details, What You Need to Do, and an instant Safety & Scam Warning that detects phishing, OTP requests, and fake KYC threats.
1-Tap Family & Emergency SOS: Direct phone calls (tel:), 1-tap WhatsApp messages pre-filled with courteous help notes, and a high-visibility Emergency SOS protocol with tactile haptic vibration pulses.
Elder Design System: WCAG AAA high-contrast warm cream/emerald palette, minimum 18px body font (with an instant A / A+ / A++ scaler up to 22px), large 56px+ touch targets, and zero mandatory account logins.

Demo

GitHub Repository: https://github.com/AVA-NTHIKA14/Koode-AI
Localhost PWA Experience: The application runs locally at http://localhost:5173 and across local Wi-Fi at http://<LAN_IP>:5173, allowing physical Android and iOS phones to install it directly to their home screen as a standalone application.

Key Screens & Workflow

Dashboard: High-visibility red Emergency SOS bar, time-of-day greeting, large 104px action tiles ("Talk to Koode" & "Add Reminder"), and primary contact Call/WhatsApp widget.
Assistant Page: 128px pulsing microphone button, live 30-second recording timer, reviewable transcript, and structured confirmation proposal cards.
Smart Reminders: Category filter chips (💊 Medicine, 🩺 Doctor, 📞 Call, 💧 Water, 📋 Task), overdue highlights, and clinical acknowledgment disclaimers.
Message Explainer: 4-part structured breakdown with integrated calm Text-to-Speech (0.8x speaking pace).

Code

AVA-NTHIKA14 / Koode-AI

A personal Companion for elderly people

Koode AI (കൂടെ AI)

"Always by your side • എന്നും കൂടെയുണ്ട്"
An elder-supportive, voice-first companion app engineered for older adults. Built with open-weight AI (Google Gemma 2) and Sarvam AI voice transcription.

The Vision: Technology That Respects Aging

Most modern mobile apps and AI chatbots fail older adults: fonts are small, interfaces are cluttered with dark patterns, and complex account logins create anxiety. Seniors suffering from presbyopia, motor tremors, or mild cognitive decline often struggle with technology and live in constant fear of financial scams or missing vital medications.

Koode AI (കൂടെ AI) is an accessible digital companion designed with senior ergonomics:

Voice-First in Malayalam & English: Seniors speak naturally; Sarvam AI (saaras:v4) converts dialect speech into text.
Open-Weight Gemma 2 Intelligence: Google's open-weight Gemma 2 (gemma2:2b) model interprets elder requests, extracts structured reminder intents, and explains confusing messages.
Cognitive Reassurance Timestamps: Marking a pill complete…

View on GitHub

Repository: https://github.com/AVA-NTHIKA14/Koode-AI
License: MIT

How I Built It

Koode AI was engineered with a strict separation between speech perception, local reasoning, and accessible client-side interaction:

┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                          Koode AI Frontend PWA                         │
│  (React 18 + Vite + TypeScript + Tailwind CSS + WCAG AAA 18-22px Text) │
└───────────────────────────────────┬────────────────────────────────────┘
                                    │
                     HTTP / Multipart Form Uploads
                                    │
┌───────────────────────────────────▼────────────────────────────────────┐
│                       FastAPI Backend Service                          │
│       (Python 3.13 + Pydantic v2 + HTTPX + Strict JSON Schemas)        │
└───────────────────┬────────────────────────────────┬───────────────────┘
                    │                                │
      Cloud STT (Voice to Text)          Local Reasoning (Text to Intent)
                    │                                │
┌───────────────────▼───────────┐    ┌───────────────▼───────────────────┐
│       Sarvam AI Cloud         │    │           Ollama Host             │
│   Model: Saaras v4 (ml-IN)    │    │      Model: Google Gemma 2:2b     │
│   Accurate Malayalam Speech   │    │  Private, On-Device Intent Logic  │
└───────────────────────────────┘    └───────────────────────────────────┘

The Tech Stack

Frontend: React 18, Vite 5, TypeScript, Tailwind CSS, Lucide React icons.
Local Reasoning AI: Google Gemma 2 (gemma2:2b) running locally through Ollama.
Speech Recognition: Sarvam AI (saaras:v4) for Indian languages (Malayalam & English).
Backend: Python 3.13, FastAPI, Uvicorn, Pydantic v2 schemas.
Hardware & Browser APIs:
- MediaRecorder: Multi-format audio recording (WebM/MP4/WAV) with 30-second guardrails.
- navigator.vibrate: Distinctive tactile haptic feedback on button taps ([50ms] for standard actions, [150, 80, 150ms] for SOS).
- SpeechSynthesis: Text-to-speech configured at a comfortable 0.8x speech rate for senior comprehension.
- ServiceWorker: Network-First PWA caching for offline standalone support.

Strict Intent Extraction Pipeline

Gemma 2 does not execute arbitrary actions. When a senior speaks or types an instruction (e.g., "Remind me to take my pressure pill after dinner"), Gemma extracts structured JSON validated against Pydantic models:

{
  "intent": "create_reminder",
  "reminder_data": {
    "title": "Pressure pill",
    "category": "medicine",
    "date": "2026-10-25",
    "time": "20:30",
    "requires_confirmation": true
  }
}

If critical information is missing (such as an exact time), Gemma sets intent: "clarification_needed" and asks a gentle clarifying question in the user's native tongue. A reminder is never saved without an explicit, large "Yes, Save Reminder" confirmation tap.

Why Does Open Innovation Matter?

This challenge is themed "Slow and Steady", and open-source AI is what makes Koode AI genuinely viable for older adults:

1. Absolute Medical & Personal Privacy

Older adults have a right to digital dignity. Medication schedules, heart disease conditions, doctor appointments, and family phone numbers should not be mined for commercial advertising or stored on third-party cloud analytics servers. By running Google's open-weight Gemma 2 locally on the host machine, sensitive health context never leaves the user's premises.

2. Zero Subscription Fees for Seniors on Pensions

Commercial AI APIs charge metered token costs and recurring monthly subscriptions. Older adults living on modest pensions cannot justify paying \$20/month just to manage daily medication reminders. Because Gemma 2 is open-weight and inference runs on-device, Koode AI costs nothing to run.

3. Resilience Without Continuous Internet

Elderly users often live in homes with intermittent Wi-Fi. If an application requires a live connection to a closed cloud LLM just to view or check off a pill, a brief internet glitch could cause a missed dose. In Koode AI, the entire reminder management, alarm chime, contact hub, and UI rendering operates 100% offline.

The Lazy Payoff

For the Older Adult: They no longer have to navigate complex phone menus, struggle to read tiny text on bank SMS, or repeatedly ask family members "Did I take my 8 PM tablet yet?". They simply tap the microphone, speak in their natural mother tongue, and receive clear, reassuring assistance.
For the Family: Children and caregivers get immediate peace of mind. They know their elderly parents can reach them with a single tap, understand complex hospital paperwork, and are shielded from predatory banking scams.

DEV Community: AVANTHIKA KS