Ten years, hundreds of enthusiasts. Robots@FME celebrated its anniversary

The jubilee tenth edition of the Robots@FME high school competition once again attracted teams from all over the Czech Republic – and even from Slovakia. Within just a few hours, high school students had to build a robot from a construction kit so that it could handle battles against its opponents as effectively as possible. The most impressive performance was delivered by students from the Otto Wichterle Secondary Technical School. Over ten years, the competition has brought the Department of Mechatronics not only talented prospective students, but also the motivation to take robots out of laboratories and among the public.

Lukáš Kičura leans over the table where his friends Pavol and Adrián are sitting. Pieces of LEGO are scattered across the table, along with batteries, wires, and other materials. “We came from Slovakia, from Prešov. We study at a secondary electrical engineering school. The two of us designers study electrical engineering, and our colleague, the programmer, studies information technology,” Lukáš explains willingly. While Pavol and Adrián continue working on the robot, Lukáš briefly becomes the spokesperson for the whole group, which has chosen the name Speshari.

All of them have been involved in robotics for several years, and the Robots@FME competition interested them so much that they registered despite the distance. And they managed to qualify among the nine teams invited to the final day in Brno. “Everything is new for us – both this construction kit and the competition format, where we have only a few hours to complete the task. We can see that the competition is quite strong, but of course we believe in ourselves,” Lukáš evaluates with a smile.

Meanwhile, in the foyer, teachers are having coffee. Their role today is not an easy one: they can encourage their teams, but must resist the temptation to help or advise them. Today it is entirely up to the students, and how they have handled the task will be shown in the afternoon robotic battles. “There are two paths to victory – either push all opponents out of the arena, or stay as close as possible to the center of the circle for five minutes. Teams will compete in three groups of three, from which the final trio will emerge,” explains this year’s challenge for young robotics enthusiasts Jan Králík from the Department of Mechatronics.

Just like this year, high school students have been competing in robotic battles for a full ten years. One of the founders of the first editions of the competition was Martin Appel, then still a student and now an employee of the Department of Mechatronics. Over the years, the competition has grown, gained prestige, and the organizing team has collected a wealth of experience. But much more has changed. “It was one of the first events I organized, and it was a challenge. Today we also organize a summer school and attend other outreach events: we take part in Gaudeamus fairs, the Night of Scientists, and visit high schools. It really kick-started our promotion of mechatronics. At the same time, we realized how important it is, because mechatronics is one of the fields at FSI where interest has been growing steadily,” Appel explains, adding that every year he meets first-year students who previously participated in the competition or the summer school. “We also meet the same teachers again and again, because there are schools that send teams to the competition regularly,” Appel adds appreciatively.

His words are confirmed by teacher Lubomír Krejsa, who is the guarantor of the Robotics and Control Engineering program at the Secondary Technical School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering in České Budějovice. “I’ve been teaching at our school for four years, and for the fourth time I’m here at the competition with my students,” he says. Why does it make sense for him to travel every year all the way from South Bohemia? “I try to push talented students to surpass their own teachers. We don’t teach things like those presented here in the competition. So students come, have to deal with the assignment on their own, think, and work with their hands. Basically, they function the way it would look in real practice,” Krejsa explains. He adds that several of his former graduates are already studying at FME. “A school cannot prepare students for everything. A school must create a foundation on which students can build, react, and handle stress, because here they have limited time to complete the task. They test their own abilities, gain experience, and build self-confidence,” the teacher adds.

In the end, Lubomír Krejsa’s students finished in a very respectable fourth place. The Speshari team mentioned at the beginning – Lukáš, Pavol, and Adrián – took home the symbolic silver medal. And the most successful team in the jubilee tenth edition was Megamyslové from the Otto Wichterle Secondary Technical School. Awards for all medal positions were presented by FME alumnus and Director of Garrett – Advancing Motion Czech Republic, Libor Urbanec. “I would like to thank the sponsoring company Garrett very much. They have been our partners for several years, for which we are extremely grateful, because without them we would not be able to organize the competition,” Appel concludes with thanks.

And how did all the participating teams perform?

Rank	Team name	School
1	Megamyslové	Otto Wichterle Secondary Technical School
2	Speshari	Secondary School of Electrical Engineering, Prešov
3	Až na konec	Zábřeh Grammar School
4	VW ID. BUZZ	Secondary Technical School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering in České Budějovice
5	Pokus	Secondary Technical School Přerov, Electrical Engineering
6	Clankers	Brno-Řečkovice Grammar School
7	ZnojBot	Grammar School, Secondary Pedagogical School, Business Academy and Language School with State Language Examination Rights, Znojmo
7	Průmka	Secondary School of Industry and Arts Hodonín
7	robot.exe	Štefan Moyses Grammar School and Secondary Vocational School of Agrotechnics – Agrotechnikai Szakközépiskola

The complete photo gallery can be found on the FME Facebook page.

Source: Faculty of Mechanical Engineering

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Author	Mgr. Iveta Hovorková
Published	2026-02-10 08:20
Link	https://www.vut.cz/en/but/f19528/d319133