A team of students from the Technical University of Cluj‑Napoca (UTCN) is developing Nabu, a mobile application paired with a hardware device designed to help couples address recurring conflicts and improve communication. The core team includes Gyurka Hunor, Dulf David, Andor Patrick and Ana‑Maria Cioban; Gyurka Hunor joined the project in October of last year.
What Nabu does
Nabu is an ecosystem composed of a mobile app and an accompanying physical device. The app delivers daily questions and personalized recommendations: joint prompts for couples and communication or self‑awareness exercises for individual users. According to the developers, the prompts address emotions, communication, trust and shared goals and include both lighter and deeper conversation starters.
The hardware component adds a tangible presence in the home: it serves as a reminder that the relationship requires attention and can—if the user permits—use biometric signals such as pulse or heart‑rate variability. The team stresses that Nabu is not a medical device, so it does not produce diagnoses from sensed signals; biometric indicators are used to tailor gentler, context‑appropriate prompts and exercises.
How the process works
Nabu is designed for continuity rather than a single intensive intervention. When a couple reports a recurring issue, the app generates a set of discreet questions over time to guide discussion. Questions can be staggered so that partners do not receive everything at once; the intention is to let the couple revisit the same tension in calmer moments and from different perspectives.
Testing and professional involvement
Around 150 users are participating in the current testing phase. Testers are mostly young or university students, but the group also includes different age ranges and long‑distance couples. The team gathers feedback via surveys, interviews and direct conversations, and has already made many changes in response to testers’ input, including dropping features such as a shared calendar for the time being.
The project is being developed with professional oversight: psychologist Müller‑Fabian Andrea and couples counsellor Laura Gheorghica validate the app’s questions and recommendations to ensure they are useful and balanced. The team is also considering expert validation and, in some cases, clinical‑level testing in the longer term.
Privacy, control and limits on the AI
The developers highlight three responsibility principles: strict data‑privacy boundaries, treating the app as a mirror rather than a clinician, and keeping control in the users’ hands. Nabu separates individual answers from shared couple data: the architecture is designed so that AI analyses for the couple cannot secretly access a partner’s private, unrevealed responses.
AI functionality is limited to surfacing patterns—such as recurring friction points or similar stances on certain topics—suggesting questions and exercises. It is explicitly forbidden for the system to issue psychological diagnoses. As one developer put it, the AI is meant to start healthy conversations, not to replace a specialist.
Technical roles and name origin
Within the team, Gyurka Hunor is responsible for the backend: databases, application logic and the AI features. The backend decisions are central to what data becomes part of the shared space and what remains private.
The name Nabu has a practical origin: an early device ran Home Assistant and one activation phrase was “Okay Nabu,” which led to adopting the name for the project.
Availability, languages and business model
Currently the app is available in English; adding Hungarian and Romanian is a priority. The plan is for Nabu to be free to download, with certain features offered behind a paywall. The team says that within a couple only one partner needs to pay for premium features to be unlocked for both users.
While no firm launch date was confirmed, the developers estimate that by late August or mid‑September they may be ready to release the product to the market.
Recognition so far
Nabu has won several awards and participated in multiple showcases. It received the Public Vote Award at the Innovation Labs 2026 national startup accelerator, which selected 41 teams for a ten‑week mentoring program from 221 applicants. The hardware side won first place in the Cluj Internet of Things Student Challenge final, where 29 student prototypes were evaluated. The project was also recognised at the AQTR Student Forum and presented at Opera Aperta and Techsylvania.
Broader context
The issue Nabu addresses ties into larger societal concerns about relationship stability. According to Eurostat’s 2026 demographic summary, in 2024 roughly 1.7 million marriages and about 700,000 divorces were registered across the EU; translated per 1,000 inhabitants, that amounted to 3.9 marriages and 1.6 divorces. In 2024 Romania recorded 5.3 marriages and 1.1 divorces per 1,000 inhabitants; Hungary recorded 4.9 marriages and 1.9 divorces per 1,000 inhabitants. These figures do not reveal what happens inside relationships, but they underline the social relevance of couple stability.
International studies on separation and divorce also point to communication and relationship quality as frequent causes: a Danish survey of 2,371 divorced respondents listed lack of love and intimacy, communication problems, and weakened trust and respect among the most commonly cited reasons. A representative British study (Natsal‑3) showed similar patterns. Nabu’s stated aim is to surface and address such issues earlier through guided conversations and preventive exercises.
