Our Journey: From Idea to broski
Two Wolverines building with voice + AI to combat the loneliness epidemic.
Why we built this?
We’re Sahil Kerkar and Tanmay Kundapur, students at the University of Michigan. For MHacks 2025, we set out to blend real-time voice calling with agentic AI to help with what’s hardest about loneliness: asking for help. That became broski - a companion that reaches out first, listens without judgment, remembers the little things, and offers simple encouragement that can turn anyones day around.
The Spark
Loneliness is everywhere on campus. When you are going through something tough, its hard to find someone who can listen. People are often scared to seek help.
The Build
We prototyped an agent that feels like a friend: interruptible conversations over voice.
The Breakthrough
Instead of waiting for users to call, broski proactively calls you on your schedule - so support shows up when you need it most.
Where We Are Now
A fully functional outbound caller companion that checks in, remembers your interests, major life events, and goals while reassuring you just like a friend!
- Proactive outbound calls that meet you where you are
- Natural, interruptible back-and-forth over voice
- Remembers interests, events, and goals
- Makes you and your problems feel seen
- Encouragement and gentle accountability
- Bidirectional WebSockets for real-time streaming
- Twilio voice + agentic orchestration for calls
- Stateful memory for follow-ups and “the little things”
- Safety guardrails and escalation pathways (not therapy)