Students honored at the National Artificial Intelligence School Contest BWKI

On Friday, Sebastian Steppuhn from Pforzheim won this year's German Artificial Intelligence Competition – in Germany known as BWKI – with his project ‘Bee ai’. The seventeen-year-old developed an AI that recognizes harmful Varroa mites on bees. An apparatus then automatically sorts out infested bees for targeted treatment. The AI application developed by the student from Baden-Württemberg improves the health of beehives and could help to prevent the death of bees.

Winner Sebastian Steppuhn from Pforzheim with his AI for detecting Varroa mites on bees. Photo: Ale Zea / BWKI

Nine other teams of students had qualified for the BWKI final with their project ideas and were reviewed by the jury. They competed for a healthy heart, intelligent water control or against food waste.

Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier travelled to Tübingen to meet the young AI talents in person. ‘Most admirable are the young people – girls and boys – who devote themselves to their developments with great creativity, courage and imagination, and most of them still alongside their normal school in their free time (...). What we saw was amazing, but it is precisely with these young people in mind that I can say we have no need to fear for the next generation,’ said Steinmeier.

The competition's motto was: “What freedom does AI give you?”, inspired by the Science Year 2024 of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research. The main sponsor of the BWKI is the Carl Zeiss Foundation.

Leonie Weiss from Regensburg was awarded the prize in the special category ‘AI for Good’ for her AI project ‘TrafficAid’. The eighteen-year-old student received 1,000 euros in prize money. Her intelligent traffic light system recognizes vehicles of all kinds, whether cars or bicycles. The traffic light only turns red when it is really necessary and does not interrupt the flow of traffic. The jury was impressed by the sustainability concept in terms of both the ecological balance and safety.

Leonie Weiss, Photo: Ale Zea / BWKI

The prize of €750 for the special category ‘No risk, no fun!’ was awarded to Anna Perkovic and Nicholas Dahlke from Lörrach, Baden-Württemberg. The two seventeen-year-olds used AI to solve an unsolved chemical mystery: why does hot water freeze faster than cold water?

The special AI research prize was awarded to Lorenz Rutkevich from Leer in Lower Saxony for his innovative project ‘SeesDisease’, which enables razor-sharp images of cells using AI-supported medical microscopy. This means that high-quality cell images can be taken with simple microscopes, even in developing countries.

Lorenz Rutkevich explains his project to President Steinmeier. Photo: Ale Zea / BWKI

Peter Fuchs from Hanover emerged as the audience favorite with his ‘FolderCopter’ project, for which he received 500 euros. The sixteen-year-old wants to use the money to make it easier to search for data on computers. Since 1 November, anyone interested has been able to find out about the projects and vote for their personal favorite on the BWKI website.uf der BWKI-Website über die Projekte informieren und ihren persönlichen Liebling wählen.

Peter Fuchs (left), photo: Ale Zea / BWKI

For the sixth year in a row, secondary school students were invited to develop their own AI project, either alone or in a team of up to four people, to make a positive contribution to people and the environment as part of the German Federal Artificial Intelligence Contest. After registering their project ideas in spring 2024, the young people had six months to implement them. Ten teams qualified for the final in Tübingen on Friday, where they had the chance to convince a high-calibre jury of their projects with their pitch. The National Artificial Intelligence Competition will also be announced next year.

‘I am particularly proud that, as a University of Excellence, we are not only advancing the future topics of AI and education in research and teaching, but are also bringing them to the general public with the national AI competition and many other initiatives,’ explained Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Karla Pollmann, rector of the University of Tübingen, and thanked the BWKI initiators.

A colorful supporting program around the BWKI finale invited the public to participate: those interested could project their digital image into a holobox, test an interactive marble run installation or let off steam with mini-robots or a 3D printer in the adjacent KI Makerspace.

At an interactive event in a world café format, guests such as Florian Fabricius (retired Secretary General, Bundesschülerkonferenz), Christoph Krüger (head teacher and blogger), Prof. Dr. Ute Schmid (University of Bamberg) and Florian Borns (digital heroes) were able to exchange ideas in groups on the use of digital media and educational equity. The results were then presented in a panel discussion moderated by education expert Nele Hirsch. The conclusion: schools need more freedom for innovative digital developments.

In addition to the Carl Zeiss Foundation as the main sponsor, the competition is supported by the companiesn
FANUC, Festo, Droemer and Knaur. Cooperation partners are: the Science Year, the Media University and IT4Kids. This year, heise online is the BWKI media partner.