AOEngineering Logbook · Shymkent

Engineering Logbook · Vol. 01

AlissultanOtan

Engineer and founder from Shymkent, Kazakhstan. He builds things that leave the screen: a robotics team that won the FIRST Inspire Award in Kentucky, an AI startup with 5,000+ app downloads, and a haptic wearable for blind users.

Engineer and founder from Shymkent, Kazakhstan. Robotics, an AI startup, assistive hardware.

Tap the red guitar · tap any object to open its entry

FIRST Inspire Award · Kentucky 2026ATOM · DECODE 2025–26Jeli · 5,000+ downloadsWalkMate · haptic wearableQalqanAI · 3rd of 114 teams3 national debate tournamentsWSC Shymkent · 205+ scholars$27,500 pre-seed
Entry 01 · Originp. 01 / 09

Shymkent, Kazakhstan · Class of 2027

Built in Shymkent

Alissultan is a senior at Nazarbayev Intellectual School of Physics and Mathematics in Shymkent, Kazakhstan's third-largest city, on the school's physics-and-math track.

His work runs on three tracks: engineering (robotics, hardware and AI), building companies, and bringing people together. He plans to study electrical or computer engineering with a focus on AI, and to keep building companies along the way.

  • Languages: Kazakh, Russian, English (IELTS Academic 7.5)
  • Focus: Electrical & Computer Engineering · Robotics · AI
  • Tools: Python, JavaScript, PHP, Java, SQL, iOS & Android, sensors and haptics
Quick read · 30 seconds
  1. Co-founder, FTC Team Atomic Heart #33680: Inspire Award, Kentucky 2026
  2. CTO & co-founder, Jeli LLP: 5,000+ downloads, $27,500 pre-seed
  3. Lead developer, WalkMate: Infomatrix Asia 2025 finalist; 3rd at the NIS Republican research competition
  4. Lead developer, QalqanAI: 3rd of 114 teams at the AFM AI hackathon
  5. Founder of 3 national debate tournaments; lead organizer of WSC Shymkent Round
5,000+app downloads · Jeli
270successful matches · Jeli
$27,500pre-seed raised · Jeli
114teams at the AFM hackathon · 3rd
140+debaters at his tournaments
205+scholars at WSC Shymkent
Entry 02 · Roboticsp. 02 / 09

FIRST Tech Challenge · DECODE 2025–26

Atomic Heart #33680

In September 2025 Alissultan co-founded FIRST Tech Challenge Team Atomic Heart at NIS Shymkent. He leads strategy and outreach and also works on the programming.

Its rookie season took the team, and its robot ATOM, from early tournaments in Kazakhstan, which brought technical failures and defeats, to the Run for the Robots Premier Event in Lexington, Kentucky (May 28–30, 2026). There Atomic Heart won the Inspire Award in the Man o’ War Division; FIRST’s official results list it ahead of U.S. teams from Missouri and Pennsylvania.

The Inspire Award is judged, not won on the scoreboard. It recognizes robot design, engineering documentation, presentation, outreach and teamwork, and the team presented its work in English to international judges.

“The first INSPIRE on Premier Event in KZ history.”
Asylbek Myrzakhmet, founder of Asylbek Robotics, quoted by The Times of Central AsiaThe Times of Central Asia ↗
Entry 03 · Jelip. 03 / 09

AI brand–influencer matching · CTO & co-founder

Jeli

Jeli LLP is a registered startup that uses AI to match brands with influencers. Alissultan is its CTO and co-founder, and the only developer of the website and the iOS and Android apps, where most of the product lives.

After a match, the brand and the creator close the deal inside the app through a protected in-app deal.

  • 5,000+ app downloads
  • 270 successful matches: matches that ended in a completed in-app deal
  • $27,500 pre-seed raised from the MEA Labs accelerator
Entry 04 · WalkMatep. 04 / 09

Assistive wearable · Arduino software · since grade 10

Distance you can feel

WalkMate is a wearable for blind and visually impaired people, worn on both legs. Ultrasonic sensors measure the distance to obstacles ahead and turn it into vibration, so the path can be felt rather than seen.

Under 50 cm the unit vibrates strongly; between 50 cm and 1 m it pulses. Alissultan wrote the Arduino software; a teammate engineered the hardware. It began in grade 10 as Vision Assistant and has been tested with blind users.

  • Finalist, Hardware Control: Infomatrix Asia 2025, Astana (as Vision Assistant)
  • 3rd place: NIS Network Republican Research Project Competition (grade 11)
  • Designed to cost $40–50; next: USB-C charging, a GPS tracker and a companion app
Entry 05 · QalqanAIp. 05 / 09

AI against mirror-site networks · lead developer · 2026

QalqanAI

Piracy and pyramid-scheme sites survive by copying themselves across mirror domains. QalqanAI detects these sites and maps the networks that connect them.

Alissultan was the lead developer. The team placed 3rd of 114, in a field that included university students and adults, at the AI hackathon of Kazakhstan's Agency for Financial Monitoring in Turkistan, then refined the project with the agency's experts.

  • 3rd of 114 teams: AFM AI Hackathon, Turkistan
Entry 06 · Communityp. 06 / 09

Debate · World Scholar’s Cup · student government · outreach

Rooms full of people

Alongside the engineering, Alissultan organizes: tournaments, a global academic competition round, a school budget, and the content that brings students to opportunities.

SouthSide Cup & Tulip Cup

Founded and ran three national debate tournaments (SouthSide Cup 1.0 and 2.0, and Tulip Cup) in WSDC and BP formats for 140+ debaters. Six sponsors, about $2,400 plus in-kind support, made the events self-funding.

World Scholar’s Cup · Shymkent Round

Lead organizer of the Shymkent Round on April 22–23, 2026, hosted at NIS Shymkent: 205+ participants and 25 volunteers. He negotiated a $6 participation fee with the organizers.

WSC calendar ↗

Minister of Finance

Elected Minister of Finance of the school's student parliament for 2025–26, managing about 500,000 KZT (~$1,000) across 13 school events.

ApplyCompass

As CMO of ApplyCompass.app, a free platform of student competitions and programs, he brought in 500+ users through AI-made Instagram and TikTok content.

LaunchX

Entrepreneurship Bootcamp, 2025: full $2,495 scholarship; his team placed 1st of 80 in the startup tournament.

Entry 07 · Off the clockp. 07 / 09

Guitar · gymnastics · running

Off the clock

Electric guitar

Self-taught on electric guitar since grade 8. He plays almost every day, mostly for himself, and the school now invites him to perform at events.

Gymnastics

Five years of men's artistic gymnastics with a focus on pommel horse: Kazakhstan Adult Class III sports rank, 3rd place at the national championship, five regional golds.

Running

Finished the Shymkent Marathon half-marathon (21.1 km) in September 2025.

Entry 08 · Honors & proofp. 08 / 09

Awards, with links to the sources

Honors & proof

  1. 01FIRST Tech Challenge Inspire Award (1st of 36 teams): Run for the Robots Premier Event, USAGrade 11 · InternationalFIRST database ↗Ministry of Education ↗The Times of Central Asia ↗
  2. 02Infomatrix Asia 2025: Finalist, Hardware ControlGrade 10 · International
  3. 033rd place: NIS Network Republican Research Project Competition (WalkMate)Grade 11 · National
  4. 04LaunchX Entrepreneurship Bootcamp: 1st of 80 teams; full $2,495 scholarshipGrade 10 · International
  5. 053rd of 114 teams: AFM AI HackathonGrade 11 · National
PressThe Times of Central Asia ↗Ministry of Education ↗NIS Shymkent ↗
Entry 09 · Contactp. 09 / 09

Shymkent → anywhere

Let’s build something.

Open to conversations about engineering, startups and research.