Students awarded for representing Charles University at Imagine Cup












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            * Students awarded for representing Charles University at Imagine Cup
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            They had 24 hours to program a robot and bring it to life. Their robotic sumo wrestlers pl

            the six best robots at Imagine Cup, Luboš Perůtka's one winning the whole contest, while I
            placing sixth. On April 7, 2010, both contestants, who were students of the Charles Univer
            Mathematics and Physics at the time of the Cup, were awarded the Award for Representation 

            of Charles University, Mr. Václav Hampl. This award is granted for achievements and activi
            contributed to the reputation of Charles University among general public.
            When the students left for Cairo to take part in the final round of Imagine Cup, they were

            competition – it was the third time they signed up. In both previous years, the two of the
            the finals as a team. “But then a new joint skill category was introduced, called Robots a

            and we became interested in that”, Imro Živčák reminisces.
            Upon their arrival to Cairo, they took part in a briefing which revealed the basic informa
            programming will take place and the rules of the competition. “We only found out what we w

            the night before the contest. Information is kept secret until the last moment, so that no
            in advance”, says Imro Živčák.                                                            
            After the competition's launch, they could not access the Internet, but could otherwise fr
            to eat, take a swim or even take a nap. Neither one of them took a nap, however, because t
            first task was to program a simulation of a sumo wrestling robot, then we had an actual ro
                                                                                                      
            to be able to wrestle. But a real robot behaves differently than a simulation”, says Lukáš
            winner. Was it because he was better prepared? “I think that luck played a role. My strate
            simulation of the sumo robot and only then start playing with the real robot. That one was
                                                                                                      
            much waited until the others had learned how to do it. After that, I could solve the probl
            school had provided us with useful skills. We had had many opportunities to work with new 
            the faculty.                                                                              
                                                                                                      
            To be successful, another thing is essential, though: your dedication to the field and the

            spend your free time working in it. On weekends, both of us would go and study materials a
            related to robots”, concludes Imro.
            Originally, you intended to take part in this year's installment of the competition as wel

            category of Software Design. Why did you change your mind?
            Our work and school commitments unfortunately did not enable us to spend enough time on th
            this year.

            Have there been any changes in your career since last year? Did you join any new projects?
            We are not taking part in any projects at the moment. What is an interesting change are ou
            both at school and at work and the experience they provide us with.

             
            The winners at the final ceremony. Lukáš Perůtka (on the left) continues at the faculty as
            student, working on factorization algorithms, while Imro Živčák graduated from the Master'

            Information Science.
            (Lucie Kettnerová)


            Translation: Jaroslav Švelch