Students at Bauman Moscow State Technical University (MSTU) are building an innovative app that nudges people not just by time, but also by their location. The project, disclosed to Gazeta.ru through the press service of ANO NTI Platforms, aims to support tech ventures with backing from the Russian government and to push the capabilities of smart assistants further into daily life.
In the developers’ view, the service will extend the reach of voice assistants by triggering reminders when a user enters a predetermined area. One example given by the team is a spoken instruction: “remind me to call my parents when I get home.” The idea is driven by Alexander Chefranov, a fourth-year student leading the information security program and heading the startup team, who described the concept as a natural enhancement to routine tasks.
Team members emphasize a growing need for actions that matter in the moment and at the site, not just at a fixed clock time. From grabbing groceries to collecting documents at an office, people frequently encounter tasks tied to a place. The current market, they argue, lacks a service that effectively blends geographic context with time-based nudges, creating a gap their solution could fill.
The project’s organizers highlight the distinctive value of their approach: it fuses mapping capabilities from services like Yandex.Maps, Google Maps, and 2GIS with voice assistants such as Alisa and Marusya, alongside reminders and calendar features. They claim the product offers broader functionality, a user-friendly interface, and rapid task setup, noting that a task can be configured in under a minute. Anastasia Kurkova, a fourth-year Applied Informatics student and member of the team, underscored these points while describing how the interface is designed to be intuitive and accessible for daily use.
Current progress includes formalizing a business model, conducting market research to identify the target audience, and building a prototype. The team expects hands-on testing to begin within the near future as part of an iterative development cycle, with feedback guiding refinements. This stage is viewed as critical to validate assumptions about user needs and the practical integration of location-based reminders into everyday routines.
As a snapshot of ongoing collaboration between academia and industry, the project reflects a broader push toward smarter, context-aware digital assistants that can assist with both personal organization and operational tasks. The developers aim to demonstrate how a single app can unify navigation, personal scheduling, and proactive reminders in a cohesive experience that responds to where users are, what they are doing, and what they intend to accomplish next. The initiative embodies a practical step toward smarter living, where technology aligns with real-world behavior instead of forcing people to adapt to rigid schedules.
The work described here is part of a broader program supported by ANO NTI Platforms, which is engaged in fostering technology ventures with government backing. The project illustrates how university research can translate into usable tools that address everyday challenges, combining engineering rigor with user-centric design. While the team remains focused on refining the prototype and expanding its feature set, the overarching goal is to deliver a reliable, privacy-conscious solution that respects user preferences and context while enhancing productivity through intelligent location-aware prompts.
In reflecting on the potential impact, observers note that such location-based reminders could transform how people plan their days, optimize errands, and manage tasks when moving between places. By anchoring reminders to physical spaces, the app aims to reduce cognitive load and help users act more efficiently, whether at home, at work, or on the road. The collaboration demonstrates how high-caliber students, guided by experienced mentors and supported by public-private partnerships, can contribute meaningful innovations to the digital ecosystem.
Ultimately, the project represents a forward-looking approach to digital assistance—one that blends maps, conversations, and calendars into a single, easy-to-use tool that adapts to the user’s environment. The team remains dedicated to delivering a tested solution that could become a staple for daily life, with ongoing efforts to ensure scalability, reliability, and user privacy as part of its roadmap.
Note: This article summarizes information presented to Gazeta.ru by ANO NTI Platforms, reflecting the developers’ statements and project milestones as disclosed during the early stages of the initiative.