Students of the Faculty of Information Technology at CTU in Prague (FIT CTU) were among the most successful participants in this year’s programming competition UnIT 2026 (University IT Competition). In the category sponsored by the European Space Agency, they even took all the medal positions and also achieved strong results in another competition category.
UnIT is a university IT competition in which teams of 2–4 members solve programming tasks inspired by real-world problems. Participants have 7 hours to complete their solutions and then present them to an expert jury. The competition took place in two categories with different assignments.
The category sponsored by the European Space Agency (ESA) was clearly dominated by FIT CTU students. Teams were tasked with working with satellite imagery from the Copernicus Data Space Ecosystem and analyzing the available data. First place was taken by the team of Ivan Dostál and Martin Benedikt, second place by Robin Klubarski and Yannick Daniel Gibson, and third place by Roman Vozivoda and Oleh Kuzin.
The winning team, Uranus Explorers, consisting of Ivan Dostál and Martin Benedikt, developed a prototype decision-support tool focused on analyzing Prague’s urban climate. Their solution worked with astronomical data and enabled analysis of urban heat islands, visualization of various map layers (such as temperature maps, water bodies, or vegetation), evaluation of the impact of urban development on the climate of individual city areas, and simulation of future impacts of urban planning changes.
Their solution also included a simulation tool that allows users to propose changes in a specific location—such as adding a park, water body, or new development—and, using machine learning methods, predict how these changes will affect local temperatures in the coming years, including the spread of heat to surrounding areas.
“We worked with the idea of potential real-world use in the future, for example by the Prague City Hall, developers, or insurance companies,” says Martin Benedikt, a member of the winning team. “We really enjoyed the competition, everything took place in a friendly atmosphere, and we properly celebrated the result afterward,” he adds.
Second place was awarded to the team Grokoko, consisting of Robin Klubarski and Yannick Daniel Gibson. Their solution focused on using radar imagery and data on vegetation index and temperature to analyze heat islands in Prague. Their goal was to identify roofs suitable for installing solar panels or green areas, without the need for complex analysis of orientation or shading by surrounding buildings. The result was a functional application capable of identifying such roofs in a selected area and recommending their most suitable use.
“We determined roof suitability primarily based on their slope—the smaller the slope, the greater the flexibility for further use. We then also considered the vegetation characteristics of the surroundings of individual buildings to decide whether installing greenery to reduce heat islands or using the area for solar energy production would be more beneficial,” explains Robin Klubarski.
The team Mojo Jojo, consisting of Roman Vozivoda and Oleh Kuzin, which placed third in this category, also worked with satellite data. They created an interactive AI-powered dashboard that allows users to analyze vegetation and land surface temperature data at various levels—from the entire Czech Republic to individual regions and specific cities. Their goal was to make satellite data accessible even to users without specialized expertise. The solution therefore included an AI assistant capable of answering questions and helping interpret the data without requiring deeper knowledge of remote sensing.
“We really enjoyed the competition. It was a great environment for experimenting with real data and at the same time a challenge to explain technical solutions clearly to a non-expert jury,” comments Oleh Kuzin.
In the JetBrains category, first place was taken by a team from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering (FEE CTU), consisting of Ondřej Baštař, Viktorie Valdmanová, Dias Rystin, and Jakub Ondřej Strnad. Second place went to a team composed of students from FIT and FEE CTU: Matúš Tkáč, Martin Černý, Jaroslav Hryzbil, and Daniel Figuli. Third place was taken by a team from the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics (Matfyz), consisting of Viktor Číhal, Jan Slíva, and Patrik Prítrský.
The team Decathlon, composed of FIT CTU students Matúš Tkáč and Jaroslav Hryzbil and FEE CTU students Martin Černý and Daniel Figuli, focused on developing a web and mobile application (iOS and Android) aimed at providing an overview of the current occupancy of study and café spaces in and around CTU.
“Our goal was to create an interactive map that shows students not only the current occupancy of individual places but also other practical information—such as the price of coffee, Wi-Fi availability, and other things that an average CTU student appreciates when looking for a place to study,” explains Jaroslav Hryzbil. “We really enjoyed the competition, and second place in the JetBrains category pleasantly surprised us,” he adds.
UnIT 2026 took place on Tuesday, April 7, 2026, at the Faculty of Information Technology of CTU. The event was traditionally organized by the student club BEST Prague in cooperation with industry partners.
