The first year of the Technology Olympiad at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering of the Czech Technical University in Prague was dominated by the Kosora team from the Mnichovo Hradiště grammar school. Students Lukáš Soustružník, Dan Razák and Filip Kolomazník impressed the jury with their presentation on wireless charging of electric cars. Their solution is based on a resonant induction system with a coil that moves autonomously around the parking lot and recharges parked cars as needed.
The silver was awarded to the SEDO team of Vilém Raška and Matyáš Buryanec from the Higher Vocational School and Secondary School of Industry in Jičín with the topic of detecting parking on the railway. Third place went to Šimon Durda, Aleš Michel and Adam Honěk from PORG Ostrava (Random Name Generator team), who designed a 3D printing project for cities.
The programme of the final day consisted, in addition to the competition itself, of an introductory block of lectures on current technological trends. The teams then worked on their projects, which they presented to the expert jury in the afternoon. Throughout the day, the participants could seek help by mentors to cover individual topics on electromobility, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, cryptocurrencies, 3D printing and other technology trends.
The organizers conceived the Technology Olympics as a competition to strengthen participants' skills in understanding and applying information, as well as in working together in teams of three. "The Technology Olympics is not about speed, remembering patterns and definitions, but students need to be able to find the necessary information, use it correctly, prepare the assignment and also present the results to an expert jury in order to successfully master it," said Tadeáš Salaba from Technological Literacy, the main organiser of the competition.
The three winning teams shared the prize money of 60,000 crowns and other tangible and intangible prizes. "But the main thing the participants will take away from the final day is the experience. For many of them it was the first experience of this kind," adds Tadeáš Salaba.
The new Olympics builds on the Technology Literacy project, which has already reached over 1,000 students in more than 85 secondary schools in its first five months of existence. During the first year of Technology Literacy, approximately 7,500 high school students in 125 high schools across the Czech Republic will be introduced to expert lectures.
"Our faculty welcomes and supports the Technology Olympics. I believe that through its attractive form it can bring in a new generation of high school students to study science and technology," said Prof. Petr Páta, Dean of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering of CTU.
The Faculty of Electrical Engineering is the only faculty in the Czech Republic that develops cutting-edge research on all major technological trends that will affect the way we work, travel, spend our leisure time and live in the future. From space technologies or telecommunication networks, to alternative energy sources and artificial intelligence, to robotics or cyber security - all these future phenomena can be not only scientifically researched but also studied at the CTU FEL.
Projekt Technologické gramotnosti i navazující celostátní Technologické olympiády probíhá pod záštitou Fakulty elektrotechnické ČVUT v Praze a MŠMT; generálním partnerem je ŠKODA AUTO; odbornými garanty jsou GasNet s.r.o., ČEZ a.s. a Unicorn.
The Technological Literacy project and the follow-up national Technology Olympics are held under the auspices of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and the Ministry of Education; the general partner is ŠKODA AUTO; the expert guarantors are GasNet s.r.o., ČEZ a.s. and Unicorn.
