You could write a simple OCR using a Hopfield neural network.
A good start would be:
- A comparative study of neural network algorithms applied to optical character recognition
- Hopfield Networks: A Simple OCR Application
It is a relatively simple fun project.
It would be even easier if you could use Matlab
and some of its modules. But even if you were to implement it in Java
or some similar language, I think it should be doable in 3 months for a beginner.
In Matlab, you could start with the following:
You will need the Neural Network Toolbox which has to be purchased separately I think.