March Code & Tell Recap: From Autonomous Rovers to AI-Powered Study Companions

Every month, BU Spark!’s Code & Tell brings student makers out of their code repositories and into a vibrant space, and March’s demo night was no exception. Code & Tell is Spark!’s open-mic night for builders: a low-pressure, high-energy space where students share the personal tech projects they’ve been quietly (or not so quietly) obsessing over. No polished decks required: just a demo, a story, and a roomful of curious peers.

This past month featured two standout projects tackling very different problems, from the frontier of autonomous hardware to the future of studying.

VisionRover: Bringing Autonomous Logic to the Real World

Joshua Robins (pictured above) took the stage with VisionRover, a personal passion project born from his fascination with autonomous systems and the challenge of getting software intelligence to communicate with real-world hardware. Working on the project throughout the semester, Code & Tell gave Joshua the chance to articulate both the technical depth and the creative vision behind what he’s building.

“Presenting it helped me think more clearly about the broader vision behind VisionRover,” he shares. “I also connected with members of the Spark team who offered valuable feedback on improving the autonomous logic and strengthening hardware communication, which will help me better integrate the software and hardware components in future iterations.”

He’s now focused on refining the rover’s decision-making system and testing more advanced autonomous behaviors in real-world scenarios.

Sapling: Rethinking How Students Learn

Jack He, Andres Lopez, Jose Gael Cruz-Lopez, and Luke Cooper came to Code & Tell with a question that’s been nagging at students everywhere: why is AI making it easier to get answers but harder to actually learn?  “I have personally noticed that even with the many great things we have on the internet, there isn’t much of a centralized hub for students to understand what they have been learning throughout their years,” Jack says. “To understand if you have partial mastery or full mastery of a subject can only really be answered when the exam comes, and by then, it might be too late.”

Their answer is Sapling, an AI-powered study companion that builds a live knowledge graph as you study, adapts its tutoring to your learning style, quizzes you on weak spots, and tracks assignments all in one place.

The idea first took shape at CivicHacks 2026 in February, where the team won the AI in Education track, and Code & Tell became their next stop for testing it in front of a broader audience. “Presenting to a broader audience helped us validate the problem and get feedback that shaped our priorities going forward, especially as we were able to connect with important contacts afterward,” Jack says.

Since then, momentum has been building fast: students can sign up for a newsletter regarding the launch on saplinglearn.com.  From there, students will have insight into when Sapling officially launches via beta release. They’re also in early conversations with Wheelock College about a potential BU integration, with hopes of having Sapling available to BU students by Fall 2026 — and plans to expand to other universities from there.

The bigger vision? Making AI a tool for genuine learning, not just a shortcut.

Come Build (and Show Off) with Us

What makes Code & Tell special isn’t just the projects, it’s what happens in the room. Connections get made, feedback sharpens ideas, and projects that started as side experiments find their footing. Sapling and VisionRover are proof that showing up and sharing your work, even before it’s “finished,” can be a genuine turning point.

The next Code & Tell is happening on Wednesday, April 15 at 6:30 PM in the Spark! Space (Duan Family Center for Computing & Data Sciences, 2nd Floor). Whether you have something to demo or just want to see what your fellow BU students are building, we want you there.

👉 Grab your tickets on Eventbrite — presenter or attendee, all are welcome.

🧠 Don’t know where to start? Apply for HUB XC475, and be part of a team driving real change!