Reports

From January 2020, the newly established RICAIP Center (Czech acronym for the Research and Innovation Center for Advanced Industrial Production) at the Czech Institute of Computer Science, Robotics and Cybernetics of CTU in Prague will be led by German scientist Tilman Becker, a leading expert on Industry 4.0. He comes to the Czech Republic from the German DFKI, one of the most important research institutions focused on artificial intelligence, where he worked for almost 25 years. Within the RICAIP project, it will lead the RICAIP center, which is built to manage and use testbed research infrastructures not only among partners, but later also across Europe. It wants to further develop the latest technologies focused on the use of artificial intelligence in industrial robotics with direct applications in production. Tilman Becker has been recommended for the RICAIP International Director by international comittee in the autumn of last year.

The CTU Faculty of Biomedical Engineering acquired a new building in Kladno in the area of the former barracks. The current two buildings of the Faculty, seven-storey building at nám. Sítná and existing rented two-storey building in the Barracks on Sportovců Street are no longer sufficient for the faculty.

Four renowned architects have published three different publications capturing their work. They are connected not only by the same publishing house, but above all by their love for architecture, unique view and style, and also that all of them, apart from their rich architectural practice, teach at the Institute of Design I of the Faculty of Architecture.

For 20 years, the Vytopna Zlíchov Association has been trying to save and renovate several steam and motor locomotives and passenger and freight wagon. Most of the repairs and production of parts are done by themselves, but they are also helped by specialists with exceptional qualifications from the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering of the Czech Technical University in Prague.

On 18 December, 69 new professors received their appointment decrees from the hands of Minister of Education, Youth and Sports, Robert Plaga at the Carolinum. They were nominated for the highest academic degree by scientific and artistic councils of universities, and are appointed by the president. Five new professors will now work at CTU in Prague, namely at the Faculty of Civil Engineering, the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and the Faculty of Architecture.

In December, the scientific team of Associate Professor Zdeněk Hurák from the Department of Control Engineering at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, together with volunteers, tested what would happen if a multi-car column was created on the road. The experiment showed that the random sample of cars on Czech roads using the ACC will behave qualitatively the same as in the case of human drivers - ie unjustified (phantom) traffic jams will occur.

Being able to move autonomously in an unknown cramped environment and create its detailed map. This is the role of a six-legged walking robot whose “brain” was programmed by our researcher and PhD student Jan Bayer. For his precisely elaborated diploma project with great societal potential "Autonomous Exploration of Unknown Rough Terrain with Hexapod Walking Robot", he won the first place in the international IT SPY competition, which annually announces the best IT diploma theses.

Out of a record number of 164 teams from 77 different secondary schools, the robotic cart by R2-D2 team from Špitálská secondary school in Prague won at the autumn part of the 11th CTU Robo Competition. Teams Mindbreak and Mindfield from Příbram secondary school ranked second and third. The final round took place on Friday, 13 December in the Zenger Auditorium of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering of the Czech Technical University in Prague. The event was organized by the Department of Control Engineering.

On 10 December, the best CTU athletes for 2019 were announced as part of the CTU Christmas Concert. They are Martina Satková, Anežka Paloudová, Jakub Zavřel, Jakub Dobrý and Tomáš Klinský. The Cups were handed over to the athletes by the CTU rector doc. Vojtěch Petráček, Director of the Institute of Physical Education and Sport doc. Jiří Drnek and doc. Zdeněk Valjent.

ELLIS (European Laboratory for Learning and Intelligent Systems) announced the establishment of 17 so-called ELLIS units at the NeurIPS conference in Vancouver, Canada on 10 December. This branches aim to establish European researchers in machine-based fields learning top conditions comparable to the world's best workplaces. The Czech Institute of Computer Science, Robotics and Cybernetics (CIIRC) of CTU has become one of the ELLIS branches located in 10 European countries and Israel.