Daniel Bacsur

I'm a 19-year-old student and passionate innovator. Over the years, I've tackled numerous projects, competed in 25+ competitions, and attended over 10 hackathons, securing 27 victories and podium finishes. Below, you can read more about me as a person, but if you're here for my professional work, check out my developer portfolio ↗

Since childhood, I have been fascinated by physics and robotics. During kindergarten, I became obsessed with disassembling various everyday objects, and by the time I started elementary school, it was clear that this would be my field of interest. It was then that I met my early mentor, Zoltán Jarosievitz, and not long after, as a second-grader, I won my first physics competition against eighth-graders.

Art, dance, and music have always been important to me. However, in fifth grade, I had the opportunity to play the lead role in the Hungarian State Opera House's production of Billy Elliot — the largest children's role in the world — which marked a major turning point in my life. For a little over three years, I trained more than 40 hours a week, learning dance, singing, guitar, and, not least, performance techniques and speech skills. Looking back, I'm deeply grateful for this experience, as it continues to enrich my life even today, shaping me into a better entrepreneur and person.

In the summer of 2021, the RoboCup World Championship took place, attracting teams from all over the world. My team represented Hungary in the OnStage category, where the goal was to deliver a two-minute performance using robots designed and built by the participants. We created a robotic band featuring a fully automated piano robot and a drum robot, accompanied by a separate piano and an electric guitar. After winning the national round in the spring, we advanced to the international competition, where, after three days of challenges, the jury unanimously awarded us the World Championship title for Best Hardware in the OnStage category. Watch the performance ↗

After the World Championship, I founded my first student business—since, in compliance with Hungarian laws, I couldn't establish a real LLC yet—in which my classmates and I managed everything from production to the sale of our products. We encased ceramic planters with abstract 3D silicone molds that I designed, and then planted stabilized moss in them. As a result, after a month or two of work, we exited the business with a profit of a few thousand dollars.

In 2023, a classmate and I submitted a proposal to the National Science and Innovation Olympiad. For the competition, we developed a credit card-sized computer capable of preventing a significant portion of data thefts and supporting the work of cybersecurity professionals. The device was able to verify, based on the presence of nearby networks, whether the user was authorized to access the contents of the built-in drive, thus preventing unauthorized access.

After the science olympiad, I became friends with one of my competitors at the time, Ádám Vajda. Together, in 2024, we developed the world's first self-driving wheelchair. We began development in January, achieved fully autonomous indoor navigation by March, patented our technology in April, and continued working on implementing outdoor navigation over the summer. Read more ↗

Meanwhile, I was also working on another project. At the beginning of the year, I realized that Hungary's education system is short of 16,000 teachers and that a reliable and friendly AI model could help solve this problem. This led me to develop Sophie, the world's first virtual teacher, with whom students could have spoken conversations, and she would respond based on the Hungarian curriculum. Currently, at the time of writing this article, I have helped over 5,000 students and am in negotiations with the Hungarian government regarding a potential acquisition. Read more ↗

Currently, I am focused on launching my business and exploring new innovation opportunities.