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Tuesday, May 5, after lunch, FIT VUT, third-floor hallway of Building L. For a moment, it felt like an RC model race. In fact, it was the practical component of the IPZ (Peripheral Devices) course. The course is led by Dr. Marcela Zachariášová. This bachelor’s-level course focuses on the principles of design, control, and communication of modern peripheral devices with computers, including hands-on work with their interfaces on robotic devices. Students learn about interfaces and their specifications, which is useful knowledge not only for creating embedded devices from existing components but also for hardware development, where knowledge of these interfaces is highly valuable. The robot competition itself was intended to bridge the gap between theory and practical experiments—it wasn’t just a way to liven up a demanding course. After all, explaining various types of interfaces and peripherals theoretically over the course of 12 lectures without the opportunity to connect and test them doesn’t make much sense. “That’s why my colleague Michal Bidl and I planned as many as eight lab exercises from the start. Students work with the same platform, a ‘robot,’ continuously connecting various sensors to a Raspberry Pi 4 device, and in this way gradually build the target application,” comments Dr. Zachariášová on the purpose of the robot competition.

The IPZ course recently underwent significant innovation and was first offered in its new form last academic year. Part of the transformation included the assignment of two bachelor’s theses to expand the curriculum: one on the topic of USB (Jakub Polák); the other on RFID and Bluetooth wireless identification technologies—which was undertaken by Lukáš Houzar. The robot competition was the result of Houzar’s bachelor’s thesis. Its author, of course, couldn’t miss the competition: “I was surprised by how well and smoothly the entire ecosystem functioned in real-world operation,” Lukáš said of the outcome. You can read in our report exactly what the competition tested and how both the course supervisor and the project creator perceive it.

On May 5, 2026, the Faculty of Information Technology hosted the twelfth edition of the popular Excel@FIT student project competition. The event focuses on innovation and new solutions in the field of information technology as seen through the eyes of the next generation of professionals. This year, 88 student projects were submitted to the conference, of which expert panels selected 76 for the final round. From these, experts, visitors to the showcase, representatives of 19 partner technology companies, and, for the first time this year, high school students chose their favorites.

Tuesday morning began with a panel discussion on the topic “Not All IT Pros Are Created Equal.” Successful graduates of the faculty—Gabriela Nečasová, Dominik Harmim, and Svetozár and Matúš Noskovi—explained to the packed auditorium what an IT degree qualifies one for today and how diverse career paths it can launch. Then came the main event of the Excel@FIT conference: students presented their research in the form of posters in the faculty hallways. Many of the booths addressed socially significant topics, including, for example, the detection of deepfake content flooding today’s online world. Several projects focused on public transportation or applications of machine learning in image and audio processing.

During the awards ceremony, praise was repeatedly heaped on the quality of this year’s student projects. Associate Professor Milan Češka, a member of the Excel program committee, highlighted the diversity of the evaluated projects: “The expert committees recognized 16 entries this year. This year, there was an increased emphasis on the effective use of AI in applications. In addition to applied results, the committee recognized several theoretical works with research potential, including innovative uses of language models for designing efficient hardware, new methods for processing 3D scans, and improved detection of deepfakes. High-quality works in the field of secure artificial intelligence were also presented for the first time.”

The IT world is extremely dynamic—Excel@FIT is an opportunity to stay on top of it. You can find the press release for this year’s event HERE. The photo gallery is available HERE.

On Wednesday, April 22, FIT hosted the second in a series of panel discussions aimed at students looking for ways to bring their own projects to life—even turning them into business plans. While the first panel discussion was primarily intended for those trying to formulate their idea, the second—titled “You have an idea, so what now? From concept to first prototype”—focused on the transition from an idea to the first functional solution. There are plenty of related questions: What does creating the first prototype or MVP entail? Where does the true value of a project lie, and how can you tell that this particular idea is worth investing time and money in?

Once again, five successful “startup founders”—tech company founders with ties to our faculty—accepted the invitation to join us in searching for answers. Students had the opportunity to interview Jan Polišenský (founder of Lakmoos), Michal Španěl (co-founder of TESCAN 3DIM), Jiří Tobola (co-founder of Flowmon Networks), Petr Janošík (co-founder of Smartlook), and Michal Hradiš (co-founder of Cognitechna).

The event drew a full auditorium for the second time, and above all—there was lively discussion and plenty of insights from real-world practice and life experience. For example? That the technical part of a project is just a small slice of the pie, and the business side determines success. That’s why founders often wear many hats in the early stages, so to speak, and learn about non-technical areas such as sales, marketing, and so on. Or that—and this was a frequently repeated conclusion—you need to take your idea out into the world: Find out what problems others are facing, whether a new product or service could help them, and simply test your own ideas against reality. There were plenty of insights and questions that afternoon. Thank you to everyone who participated!

You can read more about the second panel discussion in our report.