Reports

Natália Jurčová from Masaryk University and David Tolar from the Faculty of Transportation Technology of the Czech Technical University in Prague jointly won silver at the World Winter Universiade in Krasnoyarsk in a mixed pair race. They lost six and a half seconds against the Russian home team Valeria Vasněcova and Alexander Dědjuchyn. France finished third.

The encompassing theme of the first Czech - Israeli accelerator (CIPA) is Smart city. International student teams from the Czech Technical University in Prague and the Technion University in Haifa will be led by experienced mentors to propose innovative solutions for specific assignments by industrial partners. The official opening ceremony took place at the residence of the Ambassador of the State of Israel in the Czech Republic on 7 March, with representatives of education, industrial and public sectors, including the Rector of the Czech Technical University, doc. Vojtěch Petráček.

On Thursday 28 February, the results of the 21st edition of the prestigious Werner von Siemens Prize were announced at the Bethlehem Chapel. Among the winners were Ing. Jan Filip from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Ing. Libor Bukata of the Czech Institute of Informatics, Robotics and Cybernetics.

Prof. Milan Jirásek from the Faculty of Civil Engineering together with prof. Bažant from The Northwestern University published a large monography ‘Creep and Hygrothermal Effects in Concrete Structures’ at Springer last year. It has been awarded the Most Promising New Textbook Award, awarded by the American Textbook & Academic Authors Association (TAA).

A new Smart Driving Solutions research center has been created at the Department of Control Engineering. A team of 13 scientists led by Ing. Tomáš Haniš, Ph.D., aims to change the paradigm and to prepare the ground for the new technology of active dynamic driving, which has long been used in aviation industry. Experts from the department have been focusing on a long-term drive-by-wire concept, in which the driver does not control the wheels or car engine directly, but through an electronic control unit that has full control over the chassis. It is a technological revolution already underway by the aviation industry (so-called fly by wire systems are common in transport aircraft and fighters), but the automotive industry has not yet done so because of the conservative approach of the carmakers. Ing. Tomáš Haniš, Ph.D., is a researcher and developer who is coming to CTU with experience from Porsche Engineering Services and Rolls-Royce (aerospace division).

The WAVE microelectric power plant has proven itself in live operation and is headed to the market. It was first used in Mikolajice village near Opava, where it provides heat and electricity to the municipal office, the shop, and the fire brigade. As a wood-fired power plant, the plant uses wood pellets, and after minor adjustment the wood can be of worse quality. A device that achieves a thermal output of up to 50 kilowatts can operate independently of the distribution network. It's the first device of its kind in the world. Its development lasted over 10 years, and the results of the pilot testing fulfilled our expectations. The microelectric power plant reaches 80% of the total operational efficiency. The Authorized Emission Measurement has confirmed the achievement of the EcoDesign requirements, which must be met by all boilers sold by 1 January 2020 at the latest. It is also possible to draw subsidies on installations that already meet the EcoDesign parameters even today.

January 15th witnessed the successful defence of dissertation thesis before International Committee in doctoral study program ‘History of Technology’ within the double degree / co-tutelle program in which CTU in Prague cooperates with the Université Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne. The author of the thesis is doc. Ing. Martin Pospíšil, Ph.D., who elaborated a study ‘Graphical structural engineering in the Czech Lands’, covering 2nd half of the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century.

‘Transformation of ethical aspects with the emergence of Artificial Intelligence Journalism (UI)’ is a new project that builds on the interdisciplinary concept of journalism and computer science. Collaborators on this project are The Department of Journalism at the Faculty of Social Sciences of the Charles University, the Department of Computer Science at CTU Electrical Engineering Faculty, Department of Information Technology at the Faculty of Applied Sciences of the West Bohemian University in Pilsen and Czech Press Agency. The primary objective of the research is the emergence of a UI system that will generate texts for further use in journalism.

The new Internet application for controlling the interactive facade at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering in Dejvice was developed by students from the Center for Knowledge Management (CZM). Visitors to the site will learn about the graphics it is currently displaying, or they can change it according to the selected template. The LINKY facade also provides information on public transport departures, displays binary hours, or can even launch a simplified version of the world-famous Space Invaders arcade game.

The jury of the largest international student design contest in the world (TISDC 2018) has appreciated the bachelor work of student Tereza Vacková from the Studio of Tvarůžek of the Institute of Industrial Design at the Faculty of Architecture. The jury awarded her a special award in the International Design Association category for the CleS tool - Clever Seek. This is an unobtrusive device that helps the visually impaired in orientation. The device is reminiscent of headphones, but it does not fit in the ears, but around the neck.