IIT Ropar launches AVNI app to help children learn about plants, crops and agriculture

IIT Ropar's Centre of Excellence in AI for Digital Agriculture, ANNAM.AI, has unveiled the AVNI - Grow with Nature digital learning platform. This app utilizes artificial intelligence (AI) alongside hands-on activities to teach children about plants, crops, food, and agriculture through their surroundings. Children can identify and understand various crops, fruits, vegetables, spices, cereals, and millets using the app.

For instance, if a child is observing a plant, fruit, or crop, the AI-powered identification feature allows them to learn more about it.

The platform, available in both Hindi and English, includes audio content for younger children and features such as daily challenges, a digital Nature Book, a Nature Gallery, and a Crop Compare tool. These elements enable children to record their learnings, explore different plants, and compare crops as part of their educational journey.

IIT-R explained that the app's main objective is to introduce agricultural knowledge to children before they formally study agriculture as a subject. It encourages learning through observation rather than solely reading information, allowing children to explore their surroundings, identify plants and crops, and gradually build a fundamental understanding of agriculture and nature.

Developed by Dr. Mukesh Saini, Co-project Director of ANNAM.AI at IIT Ropar, AVNI is designed to be free, ad-free, privacy-focused, and age-appropriate, ensuring a safe digital learning environment for children. This initiative is part of ANNAM.AI's broader work on AI applications in agriculture and education. ANNAM.AI is also developing AI-based digital public infrastructure for Indian agriculture, which AVNI extends by incorporating AI to teach children about agriculture through direct observation and exploration.

This effort aims to instill agricultural awareness in children from an early age, helping them understand the plants they see, the food they consume, and the role agriculture plays in producing it.