Lukáš Kalenda and Šimon Přerovský study at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering at CTU, but they met as classmates at the Smíchov Secondary Technical School and grammar school in Preslova Street. Together, they also enrolled in the first year of the Make-iton semester incubation programme, where they created a functional prototype of a smart bee scale during the autumn and winter of 2025.
How the bee scale works
The idea came from Lukáš Kalenda, who is in his second year of the bachelor's programme in Electrical Engineering, Energy and Management (EEM). Since childhood, he has been helping his father, who keeps bees at home. "The products available on the market are relatively expensive. As a result, beekeepers only place bee scales under one reference hive. However, it is much more interesting to monitor the contents of all hives, as this gives beekeepers a broader picture of the condition of the entire bee colony. That is why we have created a simple device that uses weight to determine when the beekeeper should harvest the honey," explained Lukáš Kalenda.
Šimon Přerovský, a second-year student in the Electronics and Communications (EC) bachelor's programme, was excited by Lukáš's idea and immediately got involved in its implementation. "Beekeeping and bee scales interested me mainly from a hardware perspective. Overall, I enjoy electronics and sensors that can be used in projects related to nature," explained Šimon Přerovský.
Although Lukáš Kalenda had previous experience with beekeeping at home, the students had to have the first prototype tested by several beekeepers and improve the product based on their feedback.
The students assembled the prototype bee scale from commonly available components. Specifically, they used a simple Arduino and strain gauges. Each scale displays a graph with trends that beekeepers use to guide their work. "For example, in summer, four to five kilograms of honey are added daily, part of which is water that evaporates. This data then helps beekeepers to determine the exact time when the honey should be extracted. Whether it should be done immediately or in three days, for example," explained Lukáš Kalenda.
The students are continuing to improve the prototype and optimise both the production process and the price of components in order to make the product cheaper overall, thereby making it accessible to a larger number of beekeepers.
Now that the Make-iton programme has ended, the students are able to invest in a small series of smart bee scales. "However, we would like to enable beekeepers to place smart bee scales under all their hives, as this will allow them to obtain more honey. To achieve this, we need an investor or crowdfunding, as it requires a series of thousands, which will cost millions," concluded Šimon Přerovský.
Make-iton announces the winners of its first year
The Make-iton incubation programme operates under the Maker Institute, a joint initiative of the Czech Technical University and the University of Chemistry and Technology. It is one of the steps to better connect universities with manufacturing practice and strengthen the applied component of technical education.
"The Czech market has long lacked an incubator focused on the development of physical products. We founded Make-iton so that young talents could gain experience with real production," says Patrik Seidl, director of the Maker Institute.
During one semester, Make-iton participants had the opportunity to work on their own projects, from market research to the production of their own hardware products to their presentation, including the presentation of their marketing and market potential. From September 2025 to February 2026, student teams had access to laboratories where they could create and consult with experts.
Presentations by all 13 teams, consisting of a total of 32 university students, were held on Friday, 13 February, at the Next Zone of the Smíchov Secondary Technical School and Grammar School. The main criteria of the expert jury were the level of prototype development, market potential and quality of presentation.
First place, which comes with a financial reward of CZK 100,000, went to Pavel Karásek, a student at the Faculty of Nuclear and Physical Engineering at the Czech Technical University in Prague, and entrepreneur Jan Poláček. Their ECHO coffee table uses fibre optic technology to create a night sky effect, familiar from luxury car interiors, for example. The team transferred the technology to the furniture segment and created a fully functional design prototype.
Jan Kabíček (AOI team), a second-year student of the Electronics and Communications (EK) master's programme at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering of the Czech Technical University in Prague, came in second. He won 50,000 crowns for his project of automatic optical inspection designed for small and medium-sized manufacturing companies. Third place went to the largest student team, EDU-KIT, which developed a construction kit for polytechnic education for children.
The organisers consider the first year of Make-itonu a success and plan to continue it. "The programme filled up quickly, and the interest of the participants convinced us that a similar format has its place in Czechia. In future years, we want to connect technical education even more with practice and production," adds Patrik Seidl.
The programme was implemented with the support of the IOCB Tech Endowment Fund.
Photo credits: Petr Neugebauer
