We know the results of this year's edition of the CreatiWITy competition. The winner is Jędrzej Stasik with his engineering thesis. In the category of a team engineering project, the first place was taken by students from the Neuron Neuroinformatics Research Club – Paweł Dzikiewicz, Tomasz Koralewski, Jakub Ner, and Adam Pawłowski. Congratulations!

Engineering dissertations

Jędrzej Stasik graduated with an engineering degree from Technical Computer Science this year. He won the CreatiWITy competition with his thesis titled „Drone system for SAR missions in mountain rescue".

– My work was aimed at determining whether drones can improve avalanche rescue searches – says Jędrzej Stasik.

As the author explains, during the rescue operation, the drone will scan the avalanche area in search of signals from avalanche beacons (signal emitters) of buried individuals. Then, the algorithm running on the onboard computer will process the collected data and calculate the regions where the signal was detected. These will be marked, allowing the search area to be narrowed, and thus accelerating the rescue operation.

– In my system, the innovative aspect is the combination of a drone and an avalanche detector into a single system. Both devices are currently used in mountain rescue operations. However, the autonomous avalanche drone is a novelty – he adds.

Second place in the CreatiWITy competition was awarded to Weronika Domczewska for her engineering thesis „Design and implementation of an algorithm for identifying patterns in biomedical time series and their clustering in patients with acute brain injury". Karol Janic took third place with the thesis „Preferential colouring of random graphs".

Distinctions went to Damian Choptiany and Michał Durkalec.

Team projects

Eight teams qualified for the final stage of CreatiWITy. They presented their projects and answered questions from the jury. The best project was Mentalizer by students of the Neuron Neuroinformatics Research Club: Paweł Dzikiewicz, Tomasz Koralewski, Jakub Ner and Adam Pawłowski.

– As part of the Mentalizer project we have created a framework for BCI. It is about experiments that allow us to gather data used to train classifiers which recognise such states as boredom or frustration. We have also prepared two applications implementing the mentioned technologies and demonstrating how the entire process can proceed from A to Z – explains Jakub Ner, member of Neuron.

The authors explain that the recognition of emotional states in Mentalizer takes place through the analysis of EEG signals recorded using electrodes placed on the user's head. These signals are then filtered and transformed into features representing the activity of different brain frequency bands (e.g. alpha, beta, gamma waves). Machine learning models, such as SVM or MLP, are used to classify specific mental states, e.g. boredom, frustration, or immersion (flow). The system operates in real-time, allowing the dynamic adaptation of the application based on detected user states.

– Mentalizer can be used in computer games to dynamically adjust the difficulty level based on the player's level of engagement. It can be used to monitor concentration, for example in simulators of airport scanners, where the system can detect a decrease in the operator's attention and actively counteract fatigue. We can also apply it in education and work by adjusting the learning pace or tasks to the user's current level of focus – adds Ner.

In the team category, the second place was won by Łukasz Jałocha, Łukasz Janiak, and Tymoteusz Zapała for the EarDefender project. The third place was awarded to Marvin Ruciński, Franciszek Radziwolski, Jakub Wasilewski and Piotr Gabrysch – the authors of the project "CTS – computer-assisted electronic targeting system #1".

The distinctions went to Jakub Seredyński, Dawid Glinkowski, Rafał Bożek, Szymon Kielich and Krzysztof Głowacz, Mateusz Luberda, Bartosz Rodowicz and Franciszek Suszko.

Strong interest

The CreatiWITy competition organised by our Faculty is addressed to our students and graduates who completed their team project during the last two semesters of their first-cycle studies or an engineering thesis during their last semester.

This edition of the competition, was very popular, with twice more projects and three times more engineering works submitted than the year before.

– The works were more interesting in both categories. Many of the submitted engineering projects were of a theoretical-research nature. In turn, the projects were application-oriented, and some have been or will be implemented – explains Dr. Bogumiła Hnatkowska, vice-dean for education and didactics, and chairperson of the competition committee evaluating engineering works.

– The jury was surprised by the students self-presentation skills and time discipline, especially in the case of engineering projects – she added.

As she emphasises, the awarded works stood out for their innovation, technical complexity, practical applicability, and the extent of testing applied. Those who qualified for the first three places received financial awards.