Prime Minister Narendra Modi virtually interacted with participants of Toycathon 2021 on June 24 at 11 am. He shared his input after every presentation and lauded their efforts. A team from Vellore Institute of Technology, Chennai, who had developed an app that keeps track of your yoga routine, rates your postures and helps you improve, obviously caught his eye.
Called Aura AI, the app gamifies yoga using AI and VR and will help enthusiasts improve their postures and techniques as well. Enquiring about the reach of the application, PM Modi asked, "Is it available only in English or other Indian languages? Or have you thought of releasing it in UN approved languages for global reach?" The team from VIT assured that they are working on it and that the app will also help the differently-abled with its text-to-speech service. "It is heartening to see such an initiative. We have witnessed, on International Day of Yoga, how much people have taken to this ancient art form. Your game will not only provide entertainment but also make people more aware of yoga," said the PM, lauding the efforts of the team. As he continued discussion with numerous other participants.
Toycathon 2021 was jointly launched by the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Women and Child Development, MSME Ministry, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Textile Ministry, Information and Broadcasting Ministry and All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) on January 5, 2021 to crowd-source innovative toys and games ideas.
Around 1.2 lakh participants from across India registered and submitted more than 17,000 ideas for the Toycathon 2021, out of which 1567 ideas have been shortlisted for the three days online Toycathon Grand Finale, being held from June 22 to June 24. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, this Grand Finale will have teams with digital toy ideas, while a separate physical event will be organised for non-digital toy concepts.
