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'Flower pot of the future' wins B-Photonics Cup 2023

09-05-2023

The winners of the 2023 B-Photonics Cup have been decided! The annual competition between several schools in Belgium is an initiative of VUB, B-PHOT and Colruyt Group Technics and helps young students to develop their own gadget of the future by using light technology. Together with their classmates and their science teachers, high school students of the 5th and 6th grade get one year to build a working prototype of their idea and present it in front of a professional jury!

Participating teams get a course in photonics and receive a budget to buy resources. This is a unique opportunity to discover technology and creatively solve an existing problem by working together as a group.

At the final of the B-Photonics Cup 2023 on May 8th, Colruyt Group welcomed all participants for a final demo version of their project. All students also got to visit the distribution centre of Colruyt Group Technics with a lot of high-tech logistics facilities. After very thorough deliberation, the jury of VUB and Colruyt Group picked the winners in different categories.

Best overall project

'Smart flower pot'

- by GO! Atheneum Geraardsbergen (Delta students Artémise, Yaron, Andreas, Inez & Ysaline).

This flower pot waters the plants when needed and gives them extra light if the light sensor picks up an absence of light. All information can be followed on an LCD screen.

"This feels great", teacher Mrs. Pattyn says to Nuus. "Our team worked really hard on this and the students and teachers sacrificed a lot of their free time. In the technical classrooms of our school went to work. The students had to write code, use a laser cutter and implement photonics. The jury was very fond of our efforts and awarded us with this prestigious prize. We are very proud!"