Maharashtra Students Create AI Tool For Autism Support
In Pune and beyond, a team of engineering students from Maharashtra has turned cutting-edge artificial intelligence into a practical support system for families navigating autism care — at a moment when clinical resources remain scarce across India’s cities and towns. Their AI-based chatbot, designed to offer evidence-informed guidance between therapy sessions, clinched top honours at the 2026 GRASP national challenge, spotlighting how student innovation can bridge critical gaps in healthcare and urban wellbeing.
The solution emerged from Rajarambapu Institute of Technology, where three final-year engineering students recognised a pressing urban and social challenge: most caregivers of autistic children receive professional therapy only monthly — if at all — due to geographical barriers, limited specialists and prohibitive costs. The chatbot aims to fill these intervals with real-time behavioural support rooted in clinical knowledge, helping families manage complex developmental moments at home.The GRASP 2026 hackathon — a nationwide technology competition that emphasises purposeful design and human-centred reasoning over rapid coding — drew thousands of student participants from across India. Rather than rewarding raw technical speed, the programme focused on whether entrants deeply understood societal problems and could deploy AI thoughtfully to address them. Organisers said the Maharashtra team’s approach demonstrated exactly that: pairing rigorous clinical insights with empathetic design.
For cities contending with urban health inequities, especially in semi-urban and rural peripheries, the students’ achievement underscores a broader opportunity: harnessing generative AI to extend limited professional capacity in ways that are accessible, scalable and contextually relevant. Healthcare infrastructure in many Indian states remains concentrated in major metros, leaving families outside these networks without timely support. Technologies like this chatbot, while not a replacement for trained therapists, can help mitigate support gaps for caregivers when human resources are stretched thin.Urban planners and disability advocates say such solutions could align with inclusive city frameworks if integrated with community health services and local support networks. By surfacing behavioural prompts and tailored strategies, AI tools can help families maintain continuity in developmental care — a factor that, in turn, contributes to better quality of life and stronger community resilience.
In addition to national recognition, the winning team receives a cash prize, internships and a chance to collaborate with research partners in Europe — opportunities that may accelerate the chatbot’s transition from prototype to product. Mentorship from industry bodies and design partners could help refine data governance, privacy safeguards, and context-specific behaviour modelling — all essential for deployment in diverse linguistic and socio-economic settings.
Experts note that while AI’s promise is vast, ethical deployment remains critical: models trained for clinical advice must be transparent, secure and culturally attuned to users’ needs. As the Maharashtra students prepare to scale their work, their achievement points to a growing ecosystem where young innovators contribute not only code, but civic solutions that enhance sustainable, people-centred urban futures.
