Students develop AI tool for Deaf community
Auckland International Campus Information Technology students have developed an AI-powered tool to help Deaf people better understand everyday documents, earning third place at the Aotearoa AI Hackathon 2026.
The Hackathon was organised by Unitec in partnership with Seen Ventures and held from Thursday 6 August to Saturday 8 August.
Five of the AIC students who took part were Bachelor of Information Technology students and one was from our new Master of AI Integrated IT Solutions.
The students participated in the event as part of a multidisciplinary team of ten students. The team was awarded third place and also received an honourable mention for their innovative solution.
The team developed Kindred, an AI-powered accessibility application that helps Deaf people understand everyday documents such as bills, tenancy notices, and benefit letters. It translates them into New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) with plain-language captions while displaying the original document alongside the translation.
The idea for Kindred was proposed by our own student, Daasha Fernando, to address a real-world accessibility challenge faced by the Deaf community. Daasha also led the team throughout the competition.
Team contributions included:
This achievement reflects the creativity, technical capability, collaboration, and problem-solving skills of our students. We are incredibly proud of their success and the positive impact their solution could have on improving accessibility within our communities.
We would also like to thank our Senior Lecturer, Kathiravelu Ganeshan, for attending the event and supporting our students throughout the competition.
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