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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 become familiar with 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, which took place over several dozen minutes in the form of elimination rounds, was designed to best connect theory with practical experiments—it wasn’t just a way to liven up the demanding coursework. After all, explaining various types of interfaces and peripherals theoretically during 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 the Raspberry Pi 4 device, and in this way gradually build the target application,” Dr. Zachariášová comments on the purpose of the robot competition.

IPZ is a highly practical course. Since the students did not have a fixed assignment, there was room for their creativity. Everyone connected the same sensors, but the central application could be completely different. Zachariášová points out that students must face a number of challenges as they gradually improve their platforms. A common problem is finding suitable instructions or datasheets, as well as ensuring that libraries are up-to-date and properly combined within the programming environment. Among other things, students thus learn to independently search for relevant resources. “And as is often the case with hardware, components break down or the software doesn’t work as expected. I was surprised by how well they handled it and helped each other,” comments Zachariášová on the resulting robots.

First year of the course, second year of innovation

The course “Peripheral Devices” recently underwent significant innovation and was offered in its new form for the first time 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. “I must say that the outcomes of both theses are very successful. And the culmination in the form of a competition seemed like a good idea to us,” says Zachariášová, evaluating both projects.

Lukáš Houzar himself, of course, couldn’t miss the races: “My bachelor’s thesis involved creating an educational platform—a mobile robot that combines Wi-Fi and Bluetooth communication with RFID chip reading. The race tests whether the entire system can function reliably in a dynamic game scenario.” During the activity, the system’s stability under load and communication between the robots were tested. “I was surprised by how well and smoothly the entire ecosystem functioned in real-world operation,” Lukáš says of the results. The only minor hiccup, he notes, was an occasional Wi-Fi outage in the lab, which, however, was not related to the robots’ design itself but rather to the Wi-Fi infrastructure in general. “From a human perspective, I was thrilled by how much of an impact gamification had—that is, transforming a standard technical exercise into an interactive game scenario. It motivated everyone to actively solve problems,” Houzar summarizes his experience with the practical outcome of his bachelor’s thesis and the IPZ course in general. He is convinced that the resulting system can become a stable and further expandable foundation for teaching the course: “The goal is to provide students with an environment where their code immediately encounters the imperfections of the real world and the physical limits of the hardware.”

The robot competitions that filled the third floor of one of the Faculty of Information Technology buildings last Tuesday were not a one-off “event.” Marcela Zachariášová wants to continue pushing her innovative course as far as possible into practical application. “I would very much like to see the students’ enthusiasm for hardware grow—after all, it’s a wonderful field. I hope that after completing this course and the competition, they will retain their enthusiasm for hardware ‘tinkering’ and a desire to continue experimenting and creating,” she concludes, sharing her perspective on the purpose of one of our faculty’s courses.

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On May 5, 2026, the Faculty of Information Technology at the Brno University of Technology (FIT VUT) hosted the twelfth edition of the popular student project showcase Excel@FIT. 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, conference visitors, representatives of 19 partner technology companies, and—for the first time this year—selected high school students chose their favorites. Excel offers a glimpse into the future of information technology development. It often provides competitors with their first experience presenting their work publicly and receiving valuable feedback from experts and companies.

A close integration with practice and industry is a hallmark of both study and research at FIT VUT. This event is further proof of that. “The Student Project Conference is a hallmark of the Faculty of Information Technology. In many courses, our students are accustomed to applying their knowledge through project-based work. The participation of corporate partners in Excel underscores that we are a technology faculty for which the connection to practice and industry is key,” comments FIT VUT Dean Petr Hanáček on the purpose of the event.

Tuesday morning began with a panel discussion on the topic “Not All IT Pros Are Created Equal.” Successful graduates of the faculty explained to the packed auditorium what studying IT qualifies one for today and what diverse career paths it can launch. Gabriela Nečasová, who works at the faculty and at Red Hat, used the example of her journey “from the piano to the supercomputer” to show that perseverance and diligence are often more important than an interest in programming during high school. Dominik Harmim (Oracle NetSuite) noted that the dynamic world of IT leads to major career shifts. Today, this typically involves artificial intelligence, which is redefining the field. Brothers Svetozár and Matúš Noskov highlighted the faculty’s support for student entrepreneurship during the discussion. This support helped them launch a number of projects, most recently a unique cybersecurity solution for photovoltaic panels.

Deepfakes, better public transportation, and a fair dating site

The panel discussion was followed by the main event of the Excel@FIT conference: students presented their research in the form of posters in the faculty hallways. Many of the stations addressed socially significant topics, including, for example, the detection of deepfake content flooding today’s online world. In his project DeepFaceID, David Drtil focused on identity manipulation during online video calls: “My work focuses on interactive tests running in real time that prompt users to perform a specific action. Typically, they turn their head or cover their eye, which helps identify a synthetic image or a mask.” Michal Frič’s research operates in a similar field; his work investigates the detection of deepfake voice recordings using physiological characteristics of human speech, such as breathing or vocal patterns.

A number of projects focused on public transportation. Adam Včelař is developing a multimodal transportation planner that takes into account combinations of multiple modes of transport at once—typically walking, driving, or public transit. Jan Kvapil focused on evaluating the quality of public transportation using real-world data. “My work can be beneficial to public transportation operators because it provides them with new insights. Examples include the saturation of passenger demand by location or the analysis of stop density and commute times.” A large group of presentations focused on machine learning in image and audio processing. Sathvik Udupa presented a voice system for answering questions specifically related to the Faculty of Information Technology—the “assistant” he designed combines a large language model, voice synthesis, and search within a specialized knowledge base. It is then able to respond more quickly and reliably. Martin Pribylina’s work particularly appealed to badminton enthusiasts. “The result is intended for both coaches and players, who can use video recordings to more quickly review and assess the execution of key moments, such as smashes. The system recognizes the active player and identifies and analyzes their movements.” Veronika Nevařilová, another of the award-winning exhibitors, designed, in collaboration with the Kunovice Airport, a system for automatically filling out flight documents, known as flight strips. Everything is based on the processing of audio tracks—a challenge for the future is applying this to other airports, as reporting methods and reported content may vary from place to place.

Some of the students’ results were linked to ongoing research projects. Michal Novák proposed a step toward streamlining the work of criminal investigators in the forensic analysis of large volumes of multimedia data, typically images from disk storage. Visitors were drawn to applied research outputs. Pavel Kejík is working on the development of a smart, AI-based rear suspension control system for electric mountain bikes. Vít Mořkovský presented more accurate virtual testing of advanced driver assistance systems, specifically automatic emergency braking—under realistic, non-ideal conditions. Václav Sovák commented on an interesting extension of the faculty research group’s work at his poster: “We want to fill a gap in the market for drone inspection mission planners. Our solution will enable automatic drone route planning based on real 3D objects.” Applications? Precise building inspections, creation of 3D building models, etc.

Many eyes were on the presentation of the student university online dating site. According to its authors, Petr Obšel and Daniel Pelánek, the project—currently in development and named Brndr—addresses socially sensitive issues such as the lack of transparency and security in communication (lacking end-to-end encryption) found in traditional dating apps. These apps primarily aim to keep users within the app, not to help them meet others. It should be noted that all competition entries are available in the online conference proceedings.

The entries provided an unexpected glimpse into the dynamics of the IT world

The competition entries were evaluated in four categories—by an expert panel, corporate partners, the public, and, for the first time this year, invited high school students who actively participated in the showcase. The evaluators focused on the technical quality of the solutions, innovation, and user accessibility, while also taking social relevance into account. During the awards ceremony, praise was repeatedly heaped on this year’s excellent level of student work. Roman Dohnal from Honeywell confirmed this: “This year’s entries, I would say, exceeded expectations. The dominant theme is large language models and the real-world solutions built upon them.” Dohnal presented one of the corporate partner awards to Václav Sovák for the aforementioned drone flight planning. Associate Professor Milan Češka, a member of the Excel program committee, highlighted the diversity of the evaluated projects: “This year, the expert committees recognized 16 entries that showcase our students’ best results in key areas of IT. This year, there was an increased emphasis on the effective use of AI in applications. In addition to application-based results, the committee recognized several theoretical works with research potential, including the innovative use of language models for designing efficient hardware, new methods for processing 3D scans, and improved detection of deepfakes. High-quality work in the field of secure artificial intelligence was also presented for the first time.”

Visitors to Excel cast 2,195 votes, with five projects emerging as winners: Michal Novák with a tool for extracting multimedia data from hard drive images; the university dating app Brndr by Petr Obšel and Daniel Pelánek, Václav Sovák with a drone flight planner, Aneta Chalivopulosová with research on stylized visual effects on a 3D display, and Jan Štefan Hodák with his own game in the Unity engine featuring a system for generating unique 2D worlds. Excel@FIT 2026 demonstrated that the research conducted by FIT VUT students is of very high technological and scientific quality and has strong practical applicability. Furthermore, it often addresses socially significant topics. For the presenters themselves, Excel remains an opportunity to practice public speaking and experience constructive feedback on their work, including input from industry partners. The world of IT is exceptionally dynamic—Excel@FIT is an opportunity to stay on top of it.
You can find the photo gallery from this year's Excel HERE.

On Wednesday, April 22, FIT hosted the second in a series of panel discussions aimed at students seeking ways to bring their own projects to life—even to the point of developing business plans. While the first panel was designed for those trying to formulate their ideas, the second focused on the transition from an idea to the first prototype. Transforming a vision into a functional solution and determining whether a project has real market potential is often the most difficult step. There are many related questions: How do you organize your ideas? 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 “startupists”—founders of technology companies 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 (founder of TESCAN 3DIM), Jiří Tobola (co-founder of Flowmon Networks), Petr Janošík (co-founder of Smartlook), and Michal Hradiš (founder of Cognitechna).

Get out there! And above all, don’t be afraid to get started

Once again, the discussion was introduced by the Vice Dean for Marketing and External Relations, Vítězslav Beran: “Our second meeting is intended for you, the students, who have an idea in your head but don’t know how to take it further. That’s why we’ve organized a discussion with people from the industry who’ve already gone through something like this. And these are truly interesting stories.” Michal Hradiš, founder of Cognitechna and co-founder of the startup Maia Labs, which focuses on the application of artificial intelligence in healthcare, warned right from the start against focusing too narrowly on the technological aspect of a nascent project: “The technical part is only a very small slice of the project. Alongside that, you have the business, marketing, and understanding what customers want—those are, in my view, the even more important parts of the business.” Jan Polišenský, whose company Lakmoos specializes in synthetic market research—or “cloning people,” as he himself humorously puts it—emphasized that the project he leads has always been strong in technology. “But ultimately, business determines whether anyone will buy your product. Technology is strong, but it isn’t everything.”

One of the conclusions of the afternoon, on which all participants agreed, was a call to action: Don’t be afraid to take the first step. Michal Španěl, founder of 3Dim Laboratory—which became TESCAN 3Dim after TESCAN’s investment—mentioned the many mistakes and dead ends one encounters when launching a business venture: “But it was fun. No idea is stupid; at the very least, you’ll learn a lot from it.” Petr Janošík, whose most successful company, Smartlook, was his third venture, also urged the students present not to be afraid to start their own business. Because even potential failure is a learning experience that always moves you forward.

A number of insightful questions came from the audience. It was clear that the students were thinking deeply about how challenging it can be to turn an idea into reality and what might make that step easier. One of the questions was: “How did you find someone to help you in the beginning? Or how and to whom did you divide up the work, delegate it?” Generally, the panelists agreed that in the early days, they were, so to speak, wearing many hats and learning a range of things even from non-technical areas, such as sales, marketing, etc. At the same time, they noted that this approach isn’t sustainable in the long run. Michal Hradiš stated outright that a founder who is also, for example, still studying or working in academia cannot run the company on his own in the evenings—he needs to have his own people who are 100% committed to the company. Jiří Tobola agreed with him: “What was key for Flowmon Networks in the early days was that some of us stayed in school while others went into business. We had that division, and we didn’t lose touch with academic research.” Petr Janošík recalled his early days at the faculty: “I managed to find time while studying. From the start, I learned, among other things, how to communicate with customers and how to upgrade the product suite. For a long time, I felt like some kind of jack-of-all-trades. At the same time, I was constantly looking for more collaborators, developers, more developers… It wasn’t easy. By the time I joined my third company, I already had experience and my own team. But the whole process took—how long? Ten, fifteen years? It’s a long process, so don’t come up with complicated business plans at the start. That initial naivety can, paradoxically, help you.” Michal Španěl concluded the topic by noting that it is precisely the situation where a company founder often has to try out non-technical roles that subsequently allows him to correctly define what he can and should expect from future colleagues in those positions.

Jan Polišenský also confirmed that the early days of entrepreneurship are not easy and that there is no universal recipe for success: “We had an idea at the beginning, but then we needed to validate it. Simply to find out if it was a real problem and if anyone would pay for its solution. We went around to corporations and asked how they conduct market research. And we did indeed confirm that the problem exists. However, if I had known at the start of the business how intense it would be, I might have reconsidered. But the entrepreneurial experience itself is priceless.” According to all the invited guests, getting out among people, so to speak, is a crucial step in the early stages of any project. It’s necessary to find out what problems others are facing, whether a new product or service could help them—you simply need to test your own ideas against reality. “Even your own need is a good starting point, but it shouldn’t lead you to believe that just because I need it, a million others will need it too. Y