Research Prototype · Kumbh LabsPrototype & Field Studies

KumbhDoot

Multilingual AI Assistance for Pilgrims

  • Voice-First
  • Multilingual
  • Offline-Resilient
  • Open Research Prototype

Developed as an open research initiative under Project NANDA and Kumbh Labs, KumbhDoot investigates how voice-driven AI can serve millions of visitors at the Nashik Kumbh Mela across multiple Indian languages. It is designed to work even under intermittent cellular coverage and high crowd density.

Research Contributors

Dr. Ramesh Raskar
Founding Chair / Advisor
Mahesh Lambe
Scientific Advisor, Project NANDA
Rekha Singhal
Research & Data Architecture, TCS
Saurabh Sakalkar
Research Scientist, Project NANDA
Ankur Shinde
Director of Strategy & Partnerships, Project NANDA
Gurusha Raskar
Research & Applications, Project NANDA
Visit kumbhdoot.orgView Research Preprint →Support on GoFundMe

Technical Architecture

Three-layer decentralized coordination

KumbhDoot is architected into three open layers: the user interface, routing infrastructure, and community providers.

Layer 3

Pilgrim Assistance Interface

A voice-first personal companion that understands native Indian languages, providing direct spoken assistance on transit, ghat schedules, stays, and essential amenities.

  • Voice-first interaction
  • Multiple Indian languages
  • On-device context caching

Layer 2

Open Coordination Protocol

Open protocols that route queries between visitors, transport hubs, verified community shelters, and volunteer helpdesks without proprietary lock-in.

  • Transit routing
  • Crowd safety advisories
  • Public directories
  • Community verification

Layer 1

Community & Local Services

An open network of community shelters, medical assistance posts, volunteer groups, and essential amenities discoverable through open standard queries.

  • Community shelters
  • Medical posts
  • Water & sanitation
  • Volunteer aid

AI for Kumbh

Sovereign agent architecture.

Nashik Kumbh 2027 - a government and citizen stakeholder model, from on-device agents to sovereign cloud, running on India's public digital rails.

Government

  • MeitY / NIC

    Cloud & DPI

  • State Admin

    Mela Ops

  • Civic Agencies

    Police · health

  • Regulators

    CERT-In · DPDP

Layer 1

Edge Agent Layer

Citizen-facing · On-device

  • Personal AI Agent

    Smartphone / feature phone

  • Bhashini Voice

    STT / TTS · 22+ languages

  • Local Data Vault

    AES-256 · on-device

  • Cloud Sync

    DR · cross-device

Layer 2

Ecosystem Integration

Federated agent discovery

  • Civic Agents

    Police · health · transport

  • State Camp Agents

    Regional · language

  • Commercial Agents

    Hotels · food · IRCTC

  • Discovery Service

    Capability routing

ONDC · ABDM · UPI · AA · IRCTC · DigiLocker

Layer 3

Sovereign Agent Platform

DPI · trust · governance

  • Identity & Consent

    Aadhaar · DEPA

  • Agent Registry

    Federated · reputation

  • Policy Engine

    RBAC · emergency

  • Audit & Analytics

    Tamper-proof · FL

Layer 4

Sovereign Cloud

MeitY · India data residency

  • PostgreSQL

    Relational core

  • MongoDB

    Document store

  • InfluxDB

    Time series

  • Snowflake

    Analytics

Pilgrims

  • Individuals

    10M+ users

  • Families

    Group tracking

  • Intl. Visitors

    Digital visa

  • Vendors

    Commerce

Security architecture

WAF · TLS 1.3 · AES-256 · OWASP · differential privacy

Scalability & performance

10k–50k msg/s · <2s response · 99.99% uptime

Complementary Research

Projects at Kumbh Labs

Kumbh Labs advances open prototypes addressing different facets of mass gatherings.

Pilgrim Assistance Prototype (This Project)

KumbhDoot

Multilingual AI assistance prototype for voice-first guidance, transport directions, and facility queries across Indian languages.

Marketplace Prototype

KumbhBazaar

AI-assisted marketplace connecting pilgrims with local vendors and micro-enterprises through open protocols.

Read KumbhBazaar overview →