NoteLab is a smart note-taking platform that helps students stay present during lectures by handling audio transcription in real-time while enhancing personal notes with AI-powered enrichments.
- Inspiration
- What NoteLab Does
- Features
- How We Built It
- Tech Stack
- Setup and Installation
- Challenges We Faced
- Accomplishments
- What We Learned
- Future Development
- Contributors
The inspiration for NoteLab came from our own experience as students — constantly struggling to keep up with fast-talking professors while trying to stay focused and actually learn. We wanted to create a tool that would allow students to be present in lectures rather than frantically trying to transcribe everything being said.
NoteLab transforms the lecture experience by:
- Recording and transcribing lecture audio in real-time
- Preserving your own notes with precise timestamps tied to the lecture audio
- Enhancing your notes with AI by adding images, references, and smart organization
- Keeping all lecture materials (slides, audio, notes, transcripts) organized in one place
NoteLab isn't just a smarter notebook — it's your personal learning assistant that keeps you engaged and helps you learn better.
- Real-time Audio Transcription: Stay present in lectures while NoteLab records and transcribes automatically
- Synchronized Timestamped Notes: All notes are linked to specific moments in the lecture audio
- AI-Enhanced Note Generation: Transform basic notes into comprehensive study materials
- Slide Integration: Upload and view lecture slides alongside your notes
- Organized Course Management: Keep all lecture materials organized by course and lecture date
- Download Options: Export your notes, transcripts, and recordings in various formats
We began by creating visual mockups to map the desired UI/UX flow. We then built the interface using Angular, integrating packages for:
- Notes editor
- Slide viewer
- Real-time audio transcription (powered by Deepgram)
We developed a robust backend using FastAPI and MongoDB, creating endpoints and models for:
- Users
- Courses
- Lecture Materials (including titles, transcripts, slides, user notes, recordings, and AI-enhanced notes)
We leveraged Google Gemini to generate enriched user notes, refining our prompts using:
- Prompt chaining
- Few-shot learning
- Chain-of-thought reasoning
This allows us to create contextually aware notes that integrate both the lecture transcription and the user's original notes.
- Frontend: Angular
- Backend: FastAPI
- Database: MongoDB
- AI Services: Google Gemini
- Audio Transcription: Deepgram
- Containerization: Docker
To run NoteLab locally:
docker-compose upThis will spin up both the frontend Angular application and the backend FastAPI server.
During development, we encountered several key challenges:
- Learning Curve: Adapting to new frameworks like Angular
- Large File Processing: Handling audio files and PDFs on both the MongoDB backend and Angular frontend
- AI Prompt Engineering: Fine-tuning Google Gemini to accurately enhance user notes while also sourcing relevant images
- Real-time Audio Processing: Ensuring transcription worked smoothly and accurately
We're proud to have built a tool that truly supports students in their learning journey:
- Successfully implemented live audio transcription
- Created an AI system that effectively enhances user-generated notes
- Developed a platform that keeps all lecture materials organized in one place
- Built an intuitive interface that helps students focus on learning rather than note-taking
Throughout this project, we gained valuable experience in:
- Prompt engineering and working with generative AI using Google Gemini
- Building with new frameworks like Angular for the frontend and FastAPI for the backend
- Audio processing and real-time transcription
- Creating an effective learning tool that addresses real student needs
We have ambitious plans for NoteLab's future:
- Auto-generated Quizzes: Create study quizzes based on users' notes and AI-enhanced content
- Citation Features: Link specific segments of lecture audio to citation references
- AI Lecture Chatbot: Develop a chatbot that helps users explore lecture topics more deeply by referencing and citing the professor's voice from the recorded audio
- Collaboration Tools: Allow students to share and collaborate on notes
- Mobile Application: Create a responsive mobile experience for on-the-go learning
NoteLab was created with passion by a team of students who understand the challenges of modern learning environments.
For questions or feedback, please open an issue in this repository.