Building Shruthi Bandhu: How We Engineered an AI Gesture Tool for the Deaf-Mute Community (And Won the Vishwakarma Awards) Some wins take time. Over the past year, I’ve walked out of innovation halls with more lessons than trophies. Every post I made was about participation, never victory. Each time, I clapped for others while swallowing the frustration of my own near-misses. But building Shruthi Bandhu was different. At IIT Indore , our team won 1st Prize in the HealTech Category at the Vishwakarma Awards 2025 for our AI-powered gesture communication tool. Hosted by the Maker Bhavan Foundation, the competition brought together over 3,600 STEM students from India and SAARC nations. After nine months of prototyping and mentoring, we made it from the top 1,000+ teams down to the final 12—and ultimately took home the win. But this post isn’t just about the trophy.…