University of Waterloo students unveil AI education and training prototypes from Futures Lab

University of Waterloo students unveiled working AI prototypes after an eight — week Futures Lab led by Dr. Edith Law, chair in the Future of Work and Learning. The projects were developed into functioning prototypes that apply AI to practical teaching and training tasks. These tools could affect learners, tutors and coaches by offering scalable, immediate feedback during practice sessions. Kanji Garden teaches Japanese via AI-generated stories and visuals. By combining narrative examples with generated images, the prototype is designed to help learners connect characters to meaning and context as they study kanji.

SignFluent is a real-time American Sign Language tutor that gives instant feedback on form. The system monitors signing as students practice and returns corrective feedback on their handshapes and movements to improve accuracy while learning. MuscleMemory is an AI camera tracker that provides instant audio feedback on exercise form. The prototype listens and watches motion to deliver immediate audio cues that aim to help users adjust posture and technique during workouts.

Together, these highlighted projects demonstrate the Futures Lab’s focus on short, focused development cycles that produce applied AI tools across language, sign language and physical training. Each prototype emphasizes immediate, actionable feedback and multimodal instruction as a route to more effective practice.