SMART COOKIES

These brothers invented a chatbot tutor to help schoolkids with homework and assignments anywhere, anytime 

- MELON RADEBE 

LIKE many schoolboys, they love football. And being on their phones. And when they aren’t playing the one, they’re glued to the other.

Homework, on the other hand, isn’t exactly up there on the brothers’ list of favourite things to do. And asking their dad for help when they’re stuck isn’t always possible, not when he’s a single parent with a demanding job.

Which is why Siyanda and Siyabulela Ndlovu came up with the idea of a tutor that can accompany them anywhere and be available at any time.

Their invention is called SiyaTutor, a WhatsApp-based chatbot designed to help kids from Grade 1 to matric by answering questions they have about subjects in the CAPS curriculum.

The bot was launched in early July and a week later it had 10 000 users, thanks to word of mouth and articles in the media. It now has 70 000 users. 

“I was amazed at how the numbers sky-rocketed,” Siyanda tells YOU.

SiyaTutor answers over 10 000 messages in a day, he adds. “It can explain case studies or help you understand a certain word in a comprehension.” 

Siyanda (16) and Siyabulela (10), who live in Centurion with dad Sphumelele (36) and little sister Endinako (2), are proud of what they’ve achieved.

The boys spent several months watching YouTube videos, researching chatbots and AI to find out how their tutor bot could be built. Sphumelele, a senior researcher at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, enlisted the help of computer boffin friends Dr Teboho Bell and Jongilizwe Gqozo.

SiyaTutor’s cloud-based server is linked to information available online, includ- ing books, articles, previous exam papers and online tutorials, Sphumelele says.

“We used past exam papers to test the bot and it scored a total average of 95%.”