Robert Pytel, Mateusz Oleksy, Bartosz Gruca, Mikołaj Pieczaba, Tomasz Piwoda and Jędrzej Radłowski are students of Computer Engineering at our Faculty, who received the audience award at this year's Team Projects Conference. They received it for their app that identifies lost dogs. Congratulations!

The project for identifying missing animals was developed in collaboration with the company estigiti. When a pet goes missing, its owner can add a photo of the pet and its last known location. The finder also uploads a photo of the animal there, and artificial intelligence algorithms compare the two photographs. Currently, the effectiveness of the solution exceeds 80%.

– It is precisely because of the application of AI that our app is different from other commercially programs. Of course, artificial intelligence isn't everything, as the user can also verify the match and look at other best-matched photos – says Mateusz Oleksy. – An additional feature is the ability to add distinguishing elements of the missing dog, such as the type of collar or unique characteristics – he adds.

The app developers want it to be widely accessible and already have ideas for its further development by adding the option to report the disappearance of other animal species, such as cats.

– We would also like to launch a web application available on computers and introduce statistics or the possibility of rewards for finding an animal, although ultimately this would be up to the users – explains Tomasz Piwoda, a student at our Faculty.

Students collaborate with companies

The Team Projects Conference is an initiative in which representatives of companies representing various fields and branches of economy propose topics and students from two faculties: Faculty of Information and Communication Technology and Faculty of Electronics, Photonics, and Microsystems implement them in close collaboration with the companies. As a result, they can see what it's like to work in such enterprises.

– This conference is quite a rarity. You all are working on projects within your respective structures. Some of these projects are academic in nature or fulfil the ambitions of their leaders. Some of them allow you to pursue your ambitions. But a situation where these ambitions of yours, of the leaders and even the socio-economic environment, converge and channel into one project, is something fantastic – said the dean of our Faculty, Prof. Andrzej Kucharski.

The topics are proposed in the winter semester and they are later carried out for 15 weeks of the summer semester. Particular emphasis is placed on teamwork. Therefore one topic typically involves a group of 4-5 students.

This year a total of almost 80 projects were submitted from 23 companies. The 24 most advanced solutions were displayed during the final gala in the C-13 building. The students had to, inter alia, present their idea and demonstrate how it works.

– The submitted projects involved altogether more than 300 students. Importantly, half of the projects presented in the gala are hardware solutions. These include not only various types of robots but also devices for monitoring driving behaviour or the human body. It is also satisfying that they are implemented at a highly sophisticated level – says Dr. Maciej Nikodem from the Department of Computer Engineering at our Faculty, who is the organiser of the Team Projects Conference.

All the presented ideas were evaluated by a jury consisting of scientists and company representatives. The first prize was awarded to the "MindScope – Real-Time Brain Monitoring" project, which aimed to measure and visualise brain functions in real-time while simultaneously improving signal accuracy using noise reduction techniques. The second place was awarded to the solution "TrackMate – Master Every Turn, Own Every Lap", which supports racing and rally drivers both in training and competitions.

The main sponsors of the 12th edition of the event were PPG Global Business Services Poland and Capgemini.