Germany’s young AI talents honored at the Federal Artificial Intelligence Competition

On November 10, the final of the 5th Federal Competition for Artificial Intelligence (BWKI) took place in Tübingen. The competition is aimed at interested pupils who want to use artificial intelligence to implement ideas for a better world. The AI projects submitted this year were particularly dedicated to social and ecological topics. Ute Wilhelmsen, Head of the Transfer core area at the German Marine Research Alliance (DAM), is one of the jury members. She has introduced the category “Environment and Sustainability” into the competition. The national AI competition is initiated and carried out by the Tübingen AI Center, the University of Tübingen and the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems.

Opening doors with thought control, saving food, calculating solar energy

The jury awarded Jonathan Reinhard and his team “Brainhome” from Göttingen the main prize of 1500 euros. The 19-year-old has developed an AI that can be used to open doors or regulate heating systems using thought control. The application is intended to make everyday life easier for severely disabled or paralyzed people.

In the special category “Environment and Sustainability” a prize of 500 euros was awarded two winning teams this year:

• Leonie Weiss, Philip Synowiec, Paula Juhasz-Böss and Amelie Hettl from Regensburg want to use their intelligent algorithm “Demand Detective” to predict food sales in supermarkets and make appropriate shopping recommendations so that less food is thrown away in future.
• Marcel Decker, Max Schmidt and Jacob Bürkle from Langen received the award for their project “Kenergy”, an AI that can quickly and cheaply calculate the yield of solar energy for your own roof.

Further information on the national AI competition, the categories and prizes can be found on the BWKI website.

Header photo: BWKI / Ale Zea