TECHNICAL COMPUTING CAMP 2018
The fifth year of the Technical Computing Camp was held on 6.-7.9.2018 at the Hotel Fontána on the Brno Dam.
The two-day TCC format allowed us to offer participants a diverse program this year as well:
- Our lectures – news in MATLAB and COMSOL Multiphysics systems.
- Lectures of invited users.
- Showcase – practical demonstrations of the use of our tools in the form of a mini-exhibition
- Competition for the best user project.
- Creative workshop – an opportunity for teamwork on simple tasks.
- Partner exposure.
On Thursday morning we started with the main lecture „Are You Ready for AI? Is AI Ready for You?“ by Gareth Thomas, in which he presented the company's vision of MathWorks in the field of artificial intelligence.
Our application engineers Jaroslav Jirkovský, Michal Blaho and Jan Studnička then introduced the most important innovations in the development of the MATLAB / Simulink system and demonstrated their use for Deep Learning, computer vision, autonomous vehicle control and programming of various hardware platforms.
In the afternoon we started with invited lectures of users who introduced us to the use of our programs in their projects.
Mr. Matěj Pácha from NXP Semiconductors informed participants about the development of a tool that the company uses internally for Model Based Design of senseless drive control with synchronous motor – Model Based Design Toolbox for automotive microcontrollers NXP.
Messrs. Martin Hlaváč and Tomáš Sabáček from the company Performance Solutions s.r.o. reported on the possibilities of using MATLAB in the design of a racing vehicle. From the original student work within the Formula Student competition, it was possible to establish a startup in which they deal with advanced data analysis with the aim of optimizing the design of top racing vehicles.
Mr. Pavel Šedivý from the company Retia showed us a number of examples of the MATLAB program in the development and production of radar systems. MATLAB finds application in processing data from radio signal recordings, modeling of antenna systems, control of measuring assemblies and in solving other tasks that occur in the development and production of radar systems.
Then our colleagues took up the microphones again – Jana Sárená informed about the use of dSPACE development systems for testing scenarios of autonomous vehicle driving and Martin Kožíšek and Matouš Lorenc introduced the COMSOL Multiphysics program and the possibilities of its connection with the MATLAB program.
Thursday's program was finished again by Gareth Thomas, who introduced the participants to the plans of MathWorks for the future. Many of the mentioned plans and priorities found a great response in the audience, we have something to look forward to.
The last lecture, which took place in the restaurant, went smoothly into dinner and evening entertainment.
On Friday morning we started with a warm-up quiz, followed by the main part of Friday's program – a competition for the best user project. Each team had a short time to present their project, then the contestants had an hour to fight for the votes of the participants at their tables arranged in a „fair“ arrangement.
A record 11 teams have entered the competition so far. I was very pleased to see what interesting things are being done with our tools also in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The presented solutions can certainly stand comparison with the best similar projects abroad. We will try to make at least some of the competition projects more visible internationally in the form of articles on their pages or otherwise in cooperation with our partners.
The results of the competition were announced by a jury working under the leadership of prof. Petr Dostál from VUT. The winner was a team from ZČU in Pilsen led by František Mach with the project „Magnetically controlled robotic system for micromanipulation“.
This year, the Czechoslovak section of the IEEE organization also supported the competition. Special prizes of the IEEE – annual membership – from Mr. Matej Pácha were taken over by Mr. Jiří Muška (ZČU, „Linear peristaltic pump“) and Karel Fořtl (Ricardo, „Synthesis of automatic transmission with planetary gears“).
The list of projects, their description and the complete results of the competition can be found in the Contest.
I would like to invite you who work with our tools to participate in next year's contest! The contest is open to all users of MATLAB, COMSOL Multiphysics or dSPACE systems, whether they use them in the corporate sphere, in the studio or at home.
In parallel with the competition, my colleagues prepared a non-competitive tour of their own projects.
At the end of the camp, after lunch, we again included the Creative Workshop, where you could sit down at the computers and under our guidance try out solutions for several prepared tasks.
The weather was good for this year's camp, at least during the breaks we could breathe fresh air around the Hotel Fontana and feel the closeness Brno Dams.
Next year's event will be held in the same place again. The date is already set – enter in your calendars the date Technical Computing Camp 2019: September 5–6 next year!
Thank you to the speakers, contestants and all other participants for their contribution to the success of the event and I look forward to meeting you again!
