© VDE, Henning Schacht

This year's 'Special Prize of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research', endowed with 2,000 euros, goes to Sebastian Fritsch (17), Simon Klier (17), Christian Künzle (17) and Jan Niklas Weghorn (17) from Hardenberg-Gymnasium in Fürth. They want to improve automatic image recognition: "Our 'RISCkant' project is an accelerator for artificial intelligence." The concept can be used where powerful image recognition with low power consumption is required, such as in robots, drones or vehicles. They go on to explain their concept, which they are making available as an open source project: "Our demonstrator is a robot that collects cigarette butts - but that's just one example of how the technology can be used."