On April 2 and 3, 2019, the 4th Hackathon on the topic of IoT and smart ČZU took place on the grounds of the Faculty of Business and Economics. The goal of the event was to design applications to improve the quality of life on the CZU campus using data not only from IoT and other smart devices. The hackathon was organized as part of PEF's internal grant solution "Life Sciences 4.0".

Current problems in the world of the Internet of Things can be summed up in one sentence, which was also the central motto of the entire event: "It's not such a problem to get data, but to use it and give it meaning!".

A total of six student teams, each with three participants, took part in the hackathon. As part of the competition, students created application prototypes, which they presented at the end. The basic idea was to design an application that would not only use data from IoT devices, but also combine existing data sources from different areas.

The entire event was organized by the Department of Information Technologies in cooperation with the Faculty of Business Economics and with the support of the Center for Information Affairs. The event was also attended by representatives from companies and organizations from practice.

At the beginning, the vice-dean of the Faculty of Operations and Economics, Ing., welcomed the students with a few words. Roman Kvasnička, Ph.D. This was followed by the presentation of the goal, meaning and assignment. Then there were several professional lectures. Company representative Zealabs Ing. Adrian Čech presented the possibilities of IoT devices, several case studies and showed some devices that are installed in the faculty building. This was followed by a company presentation SAP Concur. Her representative Mgr. Jan Dědeček first presented the company's activities and then gave advice on how to create prototypes, what to watch out for and what to focus on. The final presentation was provided by the representatives IQRF Alliance. They presented the IQRF technology and other possibilities of using IoT devices. At exactly 10:40 a.m., work on the prototypes began. Professional mentors from the participating companies were then available to the students for most of the day. They gave the teams valuable advice and guided them in the right direction.

On the first day of competition, the last teams finished before nine o'clock in the evening. It continued the next day from 8:00 a.m. and the work finished at one o'clock. Each team prepared a presentation where they presented their own prototype - its goals, used data sources, the overall concept of the solution, but also the benefits for ČZU. The presentation was evaluated by a four-member committee consisting of representatives of Zealabs, SAP Concur, IQRF Alliance and the organizing Department of Information Technologies. The teams in the first three places received valuable prizes. And what were the proposed applications about?

1st place - "team_name"

The above team with a very unconventional name created the project MOEW (Management of Environmental Welfare). It was developed with regard to efficiency, simplicity, feasibility with a positive impact on the environment within the ČZU.

They focused on existing technologies deployed inside buildings – smart radiator heads, air conditioning, automatic window opening and more. With the help of the IoT world, it is possible to enrich these existing technologies and add more meaning to them - for example, with CO2 data in rooms. All these systems can be connected into a single ecosystem, which would be automated with elements of machine learning and artificial intelligence thanks to Big Data storage.

The output would be a system with hierarchical layers of access displaying clear data for individual layers of users, from school management to maintenance to students. This system should improve the quality of the environment within the buildings, which should lead to better performance for everyone. As an added value, the project offers the use of all data in research and student works.

2nd place - PIMP Core

Greenhouse Monitor applies the Internet of Things to create an intelligent greenhouse. The application uses sensors to detect the current temperature or air humidity in the greenhouse, pH of the soil and many other parameters. In addition to displaying information about the current state of the greenhouse, the application will allow you to reserve a flower bed, including adjusting its layout, substrate configuration and irrigation, or selecting specific sensors. Greenhouse Monitor provides a clear overview of the current state of the greenhouse even without personal presence and facilitates the operation of flower beds thanks to the automation of some activities. The application also uses artificial intelligence to evaluate growth or identify certain types of plant diseases.

3rd place – Decoders

Project SmartZU is aimed at more convenient use of services at the University through greater use of mobile phones, and especially smart watches for communicating with smart devices at school. When the application is turned on, it is possible to look at basic information about the study, the schedule, what our next lesson is, the subject of the lesson, the place or the weather from the University weather station. The main purpose of the application is to use NFC technology to replace keys, tokens, bracelets, ISIC cards and crowns for locking lockers and rooms. The application also enables navigation in the area both outside and inside the buildings. Indoor navigation uses a Bluetooth beacon. The application allows you to register your attendance using a phone or watch instead of an ISIC card. Another use of smart watches could be for paying in the premises (e.g. in the canteen) using Google Pay or Apple Pay services.

4th - 6th place (alphabetical)

The AppVenture team

The main priority was to focus on the needs of the students. The application thus displays the occupancy of individual places around the campus, allows you to use campus navigation that would lead you to the front of the selected room, reserve classrooms, premium parking spaces, services in the dormitories (washing machines, gyms...) etc. All these services would be fully integrated with UEP wallet and the student's UID.

The iZUN team

Project Green CZU focuses on smart savings in the computer classrooms of ČZU based on people detection. Furthermore, the use of a light sensor for street lamps in the area with the addition of WiFi. For students, it brings a new service of renting scooters for 10 minutes with an ISIC card, which will bring more flexible movement in the campus. Last but not least, it presents a miniature game in the form of a quiz for student education based on IoT data of the campus, supplemented with historical pearls.

Team Kitovci

The group was working on a smartphone app. Its goal was to help newly arrived students in orientation around the school and other students in finding a suitable place, for example, for studying or a meeting of a larger number of people. So the first goal was absolutely clear, the application must enable navigation around the university. To do this, they would use Bluetooth beacons, which make it possible to determine the location with an accuracy of up to one meter. We would help our second target group to choose a suitable place so that the application would display free classrooms, the number of students connected to Wi-Fi in individual corridors, as well as the noise level, the number of free desks, or the temperature in the given place. We would use information from classroom schedules, Wi-Fi, shock, noise and temperature sensors to obtain this data.

In conclusion

In addition to representatives of all companies, the head of the Department of Information Technologies, Ing., took part in the final evaluation. Jiří Vaněk, Ph.D. and PEF dean Ing. Martin Pelikán, Ph.D. The whole event took place in a friendly atmosphere. The students brought valuable ideas and suggestions that will contribute to improving the quality of life on the CZU campus. Some outputs will be implemented within the framework of the PEF internal grant "Life Sciences 4.0" and the upcoming portal.

We would also like to thank all the student participants, as well as SAP Concur, Zealabs and IQRF Alliance, who participated in the event and contributed valuable advice to the students. 

For the Department of Information Technologies
Jan Masner
Michal Stočes