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They learned about the #AimtecHackathon programming competition in class. They decided to give it a try and ended up winning second place. However, they won't be able to develop the app to help the blind any further. They have state exams and a job to start. During the interview, they also discussed Erasmus and the benefits of studying at the Faculty of Applied Sciences (FAS).

The students fine-tuned the final line-up of their BlindTooth team on the spot, and as they say, it was a human fit. "It was a bit hectic before we addressed what we would address and how. In the end, we agreed and think it worked out pretty well," says David Markov. They had a rough idea of what their project would be about. But they had to rethink their decision. "We found out on the spot that four other teams wanted to do something similar to us. It didn't make sense for us to have five teams working on the same thing," adds Lukáš Vlček.

The situation was complicated because there was no blind person at the hackathon with whom the students could consult their ideas. However, using social media, they could find and contact several willing blind people, discussing their phone use and how they could find each other in the space with other blind people. They thus tested their first ideas for a new app.

The existing options work for short distances and in an area without much noise. So, how do two visually impaired people manage to get together? "They have three options. One taps the ground with a blind stick, and the other tries to pick up that sound. One of them plays a song loudly on their phone, and the other knows the song, and the third option is that they call out to each other. In all cases, however, these are acoustic instruments, which may not quite work in a crowded space," Lukáš points out. The BlindTooth team consulted blind people about their app, but only through online discussions. They have not yet been able to test it in a natural environment. However, the students are counting on making all the source code and input data available and would be happy if someone else would take up the project in progress. They are clearly positive about participating in the hackathon and praise the organization.

Both Lukáš and David have other study and work obligations ahead of them. They politely claim that the knowledge gained at FAS has given them a reasonable basis for further self-education and knowledge development.

On behalf of the PR department of FAS, thank you for the interview, and we wish all team members the best of luck!