3 Students Build AI Chatbot for Autism Support

In a computer lab in Sangli, Maharashtra, three 21-year-old engineering students are teaching artificial intelligence to do something remarkably human: offer support to parents raising children with autism.

Vaishnavi Rajkumar Patil, Abhishek Shivprasad Patil, and Ganesh Ramchandra Mahadik call themselves Team Neurostars. All three grew up in small farming villages, where their families balanced agricultural work with other jobs to make ends meet.

Their journey into autism awareness started when a classmate opened up about his sister. He shared how autism was affecting his family and how they struggled to cope between infrequent therapy sessions.

"Until entering engineering, we had no understanding of autism," Vaishnavi admits. "In the village, people are not very aware, and they are not ready to accept it."

That conversation changed everything. In 2022, the trio launched 'United for Autism,' taking awareness campaigns into schools and communities where the condition was rarely discussed.

But awareness wasn't enough. The students discovered a troubling gap in care.

Research showed them that autism cases in India increased by 306% after COVID-19. Yet access to therapists remained limited, with families often getting monthly or weekly sessions at best.

"Therapies were happening weekly or monthly, but parents face problems daily," Vaishnavi explains. Managing behavioral outbursts, communication challenges, and emotional regulation doesn't wait for the next appointment.

So they built a solution. Their AI-powered chatbot provides real-time guidance to parents navigating everyday situations with their children.

The impact reached beyond their campus. Competing against over 5,000 students at GRASP 2026, a national AI hackathon, Team Neurostars won first place in the "AI for Social Good" category.

They earned 100,000 rupees in prize money, mentorship opportunities, internships, and a chance to collaborate with a European university. More importantly, they proved that meaningful innovation can come from unexpected places.

The Ripple Effect

What makes this story remarkable isn't just the technology. It's three students from agricultural families, attending a regional institute, choosing to build something that serves people first.

Vaishnavi, who first got curious about coding during the pandemic by watching her cousin work from home, now serves as CEO of Dream Udaan Foundation, the NGO they registered to continue their work. Abhishek, who got his first computer in seventh grade, is CTO. Ganesh works as an intern while developing the project further.

Their chatbot represents more than code and algorithms. It's daily support for parents who feel alone, accessible guidance when therapists aren't available, and hope for families in communities where autism remains misunderstood.

From three villages in Maharashtra to a national stage, these students are showing what happens when empathy meets engineering. They're not just building technology. They're building bridges to care.