Building an Autonomous AI Tutor Operating Daily Inside a Real School in Brazil
Hello everyone,
My name is Rafael. I am the founder of a school in Brazil called Colégio Le Petit Nicolá, and over the past two years I have been working on a project that is now operating daily inside our classrooms.
The project is called NicolBot.
It is an autonomous AI tutor designed to interact with students and teachers directly inside the learning environment. Unlike many educational AI experiments that exist only as software platforms, NicolBot operates as a physical presence inside the school, interacting with real students during real classes.
The idea behind the project is simple but ambitious:
Instead of building AI systems that replace teachers, we want to build systems that amplify human intelligence, empathy and educational impact.
The Context
Inside our school we started experimenting with how AI could help teachers in practical ways:
• answering students’ questions in real time
• helping explain concepts during class
• encouraging critical thinking
• supporting personalized learning
• helping teachers access information faster
• creating stronger engagement between students and technology
What started as a simple AI assistant evolved into something much larger.
Today NicolBot exists as a robotic platform with an AI system integrated into it, capable of interacting with students, responding to questions, and participating in the classroom dynamic.
It is not a theoretical prototype.
It is being used daily with real students and teachers.
What We Are Exploring
Our research and development currently focuses on:
• Human-AI interaction inside classrooms
• AI tutors that support, rather than replace, teachers
• Emotion-aware and context-aware AI interactions
• Adaptive educational assistance
• AI agents operating in real learning environments
One of the most interesting discoveries so far is how students naturally create a relationship with the AI when it exists as a presence in the classroom rather than just a tool on a screen.
The engagement level changes significantly.
The Long-Term VisioN
Our long-term goal is ambitious.
We want to scale this concept and explore the possibility of bringing one AI educational robot to every classroom in Brazil.
Brazil has more than 40 million students, and many classrooms still lack access to personalized learning support.
We believe autonomous AI tutors could become a powerful ally for teachers, helping reduce overload and creating new forms of learning interaction.
Current Stage
Right now NicolBot is in the MVP stage, but already operating inside a real school environment.
We have:
• a working robotic platform
• an AI conversational system integrated into classroom dynamics
• daily interaction with students and teachers
• real-world feedback from educational use
Our next steps involve improving:
• autonomous navigation
• multimodal interaction (voice, gestures, expressions)
• emotional context recognition
• integration with learning data
• scalable architecture for wider adoption
Looking for Collaboration and Investment
To scale this project we are currently looking for:
• AI researchers interested in education
• robotics engineers
• AI developers working with agents and multimodal systems
• partners interested in education technology
• investors who believe in the future of human-centered AI in education
The vision is bold:
bringing an intelligent AI tutor to classrooms across Brazil.
We believe the future of education will not be AI replacing teachers, but AI working alongside teachers to unlock human potential.
If anyone here is interested in discussing ideas, collaboration or the future of AI in education, I would love to connect.
Thank you for reading.
Rafael Matsudo
Founder, Colégio Le Petit Nicolá
Creator of NicolBot