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The summer student project competition was held for the sixth time this year. The event originated at FIT VUT, but gradually gained the support of other VUT faculties and is now being held for the second year under the auspices of VUT contriBUTe. BoosterChallenge gives students a unique opportunity to bring their ideas closer to realization and practical application.

This year's student project competition selected 19 student projects covering a wide range of topics. To name just a few: an indoor drone, a system for bicycles that automatically regulates tire pressure, a modern fitness app, an interactive map of fishing grounds... Last week, 13 successful projects were announced, and their creators received financial rewards.

The evaluation committee, which was composed of representatives of BUT and the JIC innovation agency, evaluated the projects primarily from the perspective of innovation, quality of technical and technological solutions, commercial potential, and social benefits.

FIT students were very successful in the competition again this year, with four teams composed exclusively of students from our faculty. Projects with a significant or exclusive contribution from our students included:

cyrcID is a software platform designed to support the implementation of a digital product passport that provides information about the manufacturing process, materials used, and environmental impact. It focuses primarily on small and medium-sized enterprises in the fashion industry. The team included students from various Brno universities: Šimon Pekař (Faculty of Business and Management, Brno University of Technology), Tobiáš Frajka and Adam Pastierik (Faculty of Information Technology, Brno University of Technology), Adéla Kočičková (Faculty of Fine Arts, Brno University of Technology), and Jakub Jamný (Masaryk University). The technical solution is almost complete and ready for testing in a real environment. The project consultant was Ing. Jiří Hynek, Ph.D.

Dominik Honza created a fully functional application called RUFFE – Revíry, which is based on a modern technological structure, is sustainable in the long term, and is actively used by the fishing community, which regularly provides feedback. The application has already been downloaded more than a thousand times. The project consultant was Ing. Jan Pluskal, Ph.D.

Adriana Buchmei's Poseify project has moved into the functional application phase with an implemented machine learning model for recognizing yoga poses. The author is building on her earlier work, with development proceeding in a systematic and user-oriented manner. The application is available in a test version on Google Play, and although it is still an early MVP, it shows considerable potential. The consultant was Prof. Ing. Adam Herout, Ph.D.

The SOFOS project addresses minor but, in practice, fundamental problems associated with service in catering establishments. It combines elements familiar from major players such as Wolt and Foodora, expanding them with features tailored specifically for restaurants, which may be exactly what businesses need. Students Jan Lindovský and Marcel Mravec have created a technically sophisticated and functional prototype. The consultant was Ing. Martin Hrubý, Ph.D.

Alex Marinica's VitalMap project is specific in the scope of work that one student completed during the summer. Moreover, it operates in the difficult field of biomedical engineering. The goal is ambitious: it should be a mobile application for eye diagnostics using pupillary response (changes in the size of the pupil, most often reflex constriction when exposed to light or dilation when there is a lack of light). Measuring the pupillary reflex helps to detect the danger of mild concussion in time, when the patient is at risk of serious brain injury if a similar injury recurs. In terms of content, this is an extensive task that is in its initial phase.

"Opening the competition to all BUT faculties and institutes has connected students not only across BUT, but also between Brno universities, and has provided students with valuable feedback from experts in various fields at BUT," says Vítězslav Beran from FIT BUT, guarantor and coordinator of the competition, who positively evaluates the expansion of the program across the entire university.

We congratulate all the winners and thank them for the energy they put into their projects.

We would also like to thank the experts from FIT who supported the faculty teams and/or participated in the review process or the activities of the program committee.

More information about the award-winning projects can be found here.

The original report published on the VUT website can be found here.

Another research project by experts from our faculty is gaining important integration into medical practice. Researchers from the STRaDe group, including faculty students involved in the group, are working in collaboration with experts from the Clinic of Pulmonary Diseases and Tuberculosis at the Brno University Hospital to develop new methods for diagnosing and monitoring respiratory and lung diseases. The joint research is being conducted under a memorandum of cooperation signed at the beginning of this year.

The team's goal is to create detailed models of selected sections of the respiratory tract and, at the same time, to explore the possibilities for their most effective measurement. Thanks to the combination of these approaches, doctors will have tools at their disposal that will allow them to monitor much more accurately how the respiratory tract changes over time – whether as a result of natural development or in connection with a specific disease. Such findings are crucial, for example, when deciding on a course of treatment or evaluating the effectiveness of the therapy used. Head of the Department of Pulmonary Diseases and Tuberculosis Prof. Milan Sova says of the practical applicability of the research: "In clinical practice, we often encounter situations where, for example, we need to calculate the diameters of the trachea and bronchi in real time during an endoscopic examination. Currently, there are no available solutions, but thanks to our collaboration with FIT VUT, we are able to explore new avenues and develop methods that will help our patients in the future. Our goal is to be at the forefront of research in this area, and collaboration with VUT is the way to achieve this." When asked about specific diagnoses in which the new methods can be used, Prof. Sova lists airway stenosis of both malignant and benign etiology.

To achieve these results, scientists use a wide range of modern technologies. In addition to proven computer vision techniques, they also rely on the latest machine learning and artificial intelligence methods, which enable the automation of image data analysis. They also draw inspiration from areas outside medicine, such as the automotive industry, where similar algorithms have proven themselves in real-time image analysis under demanding conditions. "Every day, new possibilities emerge in the field of artificial intelligence and image processing, but their implementation in practice is gradual. Our goal is to transfer these technologies into the real world as quickly as possible and find specific applications for them in healthcare. We believe that modern IT methods can bring enormous benefits in the diagnosis and treatment of patients, which is why we are working closely with the Department of Pulmonary Diseases and Tuberculosis," says Tomáš Goldmann, principal investigator at FIT VUT, summarizing the motivation behind the project.

The practical benefits of the collaboration are evident. "If everything goes according to plan, this will be a solution that will significantly simplify endoscopic examinations in patients with airway stenosis, tracheal dyskinesia, and similar conditions. This will be followed by standard therapy, which, however, can be tailored to each patient," summarizes the desired goal of Professor Milan Sova from the Department of Pulmonary Diseases and Tuberculosis.

From August 25 to 29, our faculty hosted the traditional Summer School of IT for Girls, the oldest event of its kind in the Czech Republic. It was founded in 2005 by Professor Jan M. Honzík, who drew attention to the underrepresentation of women in IT. More than thirty high school girls participated in this year's edition.

The mission of the Summer School remains the same – in addition to learning about the field, participants also take away the conviction that technology and information technology are open to anyone who is interested. This year, for example, the girls learned to apply the basics of machine learning in Python, tried their hand at designing a mobile application in Figma, and became familiar with embedded systems and working in the MicroBid platform. They also gave positive feedback on the discussion with FIT graduates from leading technology companies.

The summer school attracted the interest of a number of media outlets, including Czech Radio and the Seznam Zprávy news website. You can get a feel for the atmosphere of this year's event in this report by Czech Television.