Professor Ada: 3D Voice AI Teaching Assistant

Inspiration & Problem Mastering Data Structures & Algorithms (DS&A) is hard. Video courses have 70%+ dropout rates due to passive learning, while LeetCode outputs cryptic errors without conceptual guidance. 1-on-1 human tutoring costs $60-$120/hr. We built Professor Ada to give every student an empathetic, expert CS professor 24/7. AssemblyAI Real-Time Voice Backbone Built on AssemblyAI Realtime Speech-to-Text WebSocket API: • 16kHz PCM Streaming: Browser mic streams audio chunks directly over WebSockets for sub-300ms speech-to-text. • CS Domain Vocab Boost: 150+ boosted terms (Dijkstra, memoization, hashmap, Big-O, AVL) ensure zero transcription error on technical queries. • Ephemeral Auth Security: Backend issues temporary tokens (/api/assemblyai/token) to protect API keys. • Partial & Final Transcripts: Live visual transcription feedback as you speak, locking context on speech completion. • Failover: Automatic fallback to Web Speech API ensures zero classroom interruption. Key Features • Socratic Spoken Dialogue: Speak naturally; Ada asks leading questions and challenges sub-optimal complexity. • 3D Avatar & Viseme Lip-Sync: Three.js 60 FPS avatar with ElevenLabs phoneme-driven mouth movement and emotional expressions. • Interactive Code Lab: Monaco editor with draggable 20%-80% split view paired with live canvas visualizers. • Line-by-Line Explainer: Click any code line to hear Ada explain the runtime logic vocally and visually. • 6 Algorithm Visualizers: Hash Map (Two Sum), Binary Search, QuickSort, BST, Linked List, Dynamic Arrays. • 180 Problems & 15 Categories: Complete curriculum with Dashboard, Modules, Code Lab, and Q&A Arena. • Offline Resilience: Built-in knowledge base (10 algorithms + 180 topics) handles zero-connectivity gracefully. Tech Stack AssemblyAI Realtime STT, Next.js 14, Three.js, Node.js/Express on Render, OpenRouter (GLM-4/DeepSeek), ElevenLabs.