As part of his thesis, Jiří designed and implemented an open and accessible WhyCode system for determining the positions of moving objects. Due to its versatility, scalability and user-friendliness, this system is used in many foreign universities, technology companies and international projects. In addition to its use in swarm robotics and autonomous vehicles, the system has also been deployed to track the activities of social insects in the European RoboRoyale project.
Jiří has been researching the project since his undergraduate studies and continues to do so during his PhD. "What I enjoy about this technology is the variety of applications. It can be used in applications for locating and forming autonomous drone formations, augmented reality, determining the position of robots when interacting with each other or with the environment, and in short, any time you need to know the position of an object to which a black and white marker is attached," Jiří explains, adding how the technology differs from other available solutions. "Compared to PTI Phoenix or OptiTrack systems, WhyCode is cheaper and simpler. It can be up and running in minutes, works in direct sunlight because it doesn't use infrared, and has a longer range. It is also available on the Android platform in the form of a mobile app, and the open source code is a big advantage," says this year's winner.
Six Czech and five Slovak universities participated in the thirteenth edition of the IT SPY competition, where almost 1,200 diploma theses were defended last academic year. From these, the ambassadors nominated a total of 52 projects to the semi-finals, which were evaluated by an expert jury. Those advancing to the finals then defended their theses in person on 24 November 2022.
"For me, the IT SPY competition is a probe into the best that is being created in the Czech Republic and Slovakia in the field of informatics. The domain of the last years is the practical applicability of the diploma theses ideas, which was confirmed this year," says Jiří Vokřínek, Head of the Department of Computer Science at FEL CTU. His department has produced the fifth winner of the competition, last year the prize was awarded for the first time to a student - Jindřiška Deckerová.
You can read an interview with Jiří Ulrich after the nomination announcement here.
