The expert jury particularly appreciated the system’s competitiveness and its potential for use across international organizations. “The system replaces the work of a typical person who collects samples and then monitors them in a laboratory. It helps with rapid scanning of large areas, which can be significantly applied in assessing the character and properties of water within Czech river basins. However, the work goes beyond our country and has broad applications that can connect both traditional laboratory work and monitoring,” described Jana Říhová Ambrožová, one of the competition judges and an expert in hydrobiology and microbiology at the University of Chemistry and Technology in Prague.
The CALYPSO system is based on multi-robot systems used to detect and predict dangerous water blooms. It uses autonomous robotic devices capable of collecting data in aquatic environments, which saves human effort and speeds up the entire research process. Monitoring thus makes it possible to predict what would otherwise only be discovered later through field sampling or laboratory research. The aim of the winning project was to create a low-cost and accessible system usable by educational institutions or individuals focusing on hobby-level water quality monitoring.
The winner will present the project at the final round in Stockholm, which will be divided into three parts. Competitors must submit a written paper in English, complete an online interview, and present their project in person. The winner is decided by an international jury evaluating both the written work and the subsequent interview. The winner of the international round receives 15,000 USD, a trophy, and a diploma. “I am looking forward to Stockholm, although it comes with great responsibility to present the project well,” said the winner of this year’s national round, adding that he plans to use the financial reward to further fund the project. The next goal for the author and his team is to bring the project to a stage where it can be used in practice and become commercially available. His ambition is to expand accessibility beyond specialists so that even people without prior experience can use the system to conduct water research.
The Stockholm Junior Water Prize (SJWP) is an international project focused on high school students interested in water and sustainability. Each year, thousands of them compete for the best project addressing the use of water in solving global challenges across many disciplines. The Czech Republic has participated in the competition since 2022, and the national round is organized by Mendel University in Brno. The winner of the national round presents their project at the international competition in Stockholm, where it is evaluated by a jury of international experts in water and sustainability. The prize is awarded to the winning student or team by the patron of the competition, Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden.