First cSports tournament at the THI

The tension was palpable: highly concentrated and ambitious, four teams faced two challenging tasks in the university auditorium: First, they played ‘Astro Pong’, then they pitted two self-programmed ships against each other in the ‘Pirate Conquest’. The first cSports tournament at the THI focussed on having fun. Initiator Professor Torsten Schön explains that the whole thing also has added value: ‘It's about learning programming without it feeling like work. That's why cSports, derived from 'coding sports', is all about having fun. We all know that: If something is fun, it's not exhausting.’

With the ‘cSports’ project funded by the Klaus Tschira Foundation, Torsten Schön wants to create a games platform where teenagers and young adults can compete in programming. The computer science professor heads the ‘Computervision for Intelligent Mobility Systems’ research group at THI, which specializes in AI-supported image recognition and processing for mobility systems. Together with his colleagues Daniel Kriegl and Luca Schreiber and with the support of Hochschulgaming Ingolstadt e.V. (HGI), he organized the event. Further tournaments are to follow shortly.

The Klaus Tschira Foundation (KTS) promotes science, mathematics, and computer science and aims to contribute to the appreciation of these subjects. It was established in 1995 by the physicist and SAP co-founder Klaus Tschira (1940-2015) with private funds. Its three funding priorities are: Education, research, and science communication. The nationwide commitment begins in kindergarten and continues in schools, universities, and research institutions. The foundation is committed to promoting dialogue between science and society. Further information can be found at: www.klaus-tschira-stiftung.de