Techfest 2004, IIT Bombay's annual Technological festival, by far the biggest in the whole of Asia, is now seven years old and yet still new. The festival this year was scheduled from 24th-26th of January. With a vivid spectrum of events ranging from competitions to lectures to exhibitions, Techfest has become the most popular of its kind, attracting the participation of over 15,000 students, faculty, corporate executives and eminent personalities from all over the world. The festival strives tirelessly to achieve its aim of confluence of the youth, the academia and the industry.
Techfest has grown to have a reputation of doing new things every year, be it the first videoconference in India, holding a defense exhibition or showcasing Sony Aibo robots playing football. Techfest 2004, the seventh avatar of Techfest, as always, took the fest to new levels with the introduction of an international competition - CLIFFHANGER. This bold step is unprecedented in India and IIT Bombay is proud to be the first to face up to the challenge.
This international event is probably the biggest milestone for Techfest since its inception in 1998. About 60 teams out of 400 were short-listed for the event including 3 from the 'Rest-of-the-World' category. These were NTU Singapore, UoP Sri Lanka and IoE Nepal. The total prize money for this event was a whopping $2500!
It would not be wrong to say that, in spite of all the marvelous events that happen at Techfest, competitions has always been and will be its mainstay.
The competitions enable students to construct, destruct, simplify, complicate, understand and battle it out in challenges designed specifically for the purpose of instilling the spirit of striving to achieve the best. The competitions at Techfest are broadly divided into two categories:
Open Competitions: These include Open Hardware, Open Software which have been a regular feature over the years. This year Techfest also introduced Open Design. Anything that might enhance the quality of life qualified as a genuine entry for this competition.
Pre Defined: These include Atlantis, Contraption, Dirt racing, Krazie Idea, Kurukshetra, Planet Earth, Poster presentations and Water Rockets
Yantriki has come a long way in establishing itself as the premier robotics event in the nation. With Cliffhanger under its belt, Yantriki was a huge success at Techfest, the other two events in it being Micromouse and Last Man Standing. For the first time, the maze in Micromouse was solved successfully by the fully autonomous robots built by the participants. Both the first and second positions were grabbed by IIT Bombay.
Last Straw stuck to its philosophy of simple and stimulation design problems. The challenge was to make a Crane and Impact Resisting structure with straws. During the 3 days of the fest, the participants also made a 21-feet high tower out of drinking straws to register themselves in the 'Limca Book of Records'. In association with the Civil Engg Dept, Last Straw also conducted workshops on Smart Materials and GPS/ GIS.
Chemsplash came back with rejuvenated vigour with la porsChe and High Spirits where models were made using only chemical power. It also included various quizzes and modelling competitions like Turbulence and Dexter's Den.
Tech-a-Tete, the distinguished lecture series at Techfest promises the participants a rendezvous with the "who's who" and the greatest achievers of our times. Started with the aim of enabling participants to interact with their role models, the lecture series has always been one of the star attractions at Techfest. This year, we were proud to play host to:
Prof. Kevin Warwick - Professor of Cybernetics at the University of Reading, UK. He has 3 Guinness records to his credit and he now aims to link his own brain to a computer!
Dr. Bharat Balasubramanian - Vice President of 'Engineering Technologies', Daimler Chrysler. Honorary professor at Technical University of Berlin.
Prof. Yash Pal- Arguably India.s most popular scientist, he has many highly esteemed posts to his credit. Was the man behind 'Turning Point', a Science show for kids on Doordarshan.
Dr. Raghuram Rajan - Chief Economist of the International Monetary Fund and the Director of American Finance Association. He is currently working in the University of Chicago.
Prof. Alex Pentland - Ex academic head MIT Labs, Founder Director Media Labs Asia.
Dr. Narendra Bhandari - Member of the moon mission task force constituted by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). Fellow of the Indian National Science Academy, Indian Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences.
One of the prominent features of Techfest are the Workshops where the emphasis is not just on 'Learn', but on 'Do While you Learn'. Every year, Techfest has held workshops that allow the participants to learn with 'hands-on', thus providing a deeper insight into the topic. With workshops like Cryptography, Wireless Networking and Forensics to its credit in the last six years, Techfest 2004 conducted workshops on:
Get your Rights (Intellectual Property Rights): Enabled the participants to learn about how to protect their ideas. The participants were also taught about the principles of IPR and the latest developments in this field like Patenting, Copyrighting and Industry Rights.
Wings (Aeromodelling): The participants learnt the fundamentals of the science and the applied technology that constitutes this enchanting hobby. They got to work with very interesting models which put their newly learnt principles to the test.
r U GAME (Gaming): The workshop introduced participants to the technology that goes into making the most popular and commonly played computer games. 3D Gaming Technology was also covered and the "hands on" session provided assistance to the participant in creating his/her own game.
Car Technology: Interesting lectures on Design and functioning of cars, engines with an equally interesting hands-on made this workshop a worthwhile experience for the car enthusiasts and buffs.
Navy Exhibition
Amongst the highlights of Techfest this year was be the exhibition by the Indian Navy which on record is the largest ever outside a naval dockyard. The exhibition was inaugurated by Rear Admiral SKK Krishnan and depicted wide spectrum technologies used in the Navy, with an aim of instilling a greater sense of patriotism and national integrity amongst the youth. It will go a long way in enhancing the awareness towards the multifarious activities of one of the most formidable navies of the world.
With every branch of engineering playing a significant role in the design, construction and operation of a warship Techfest proved to be an ideal venue for the exhibition. The theme of the exhibition was built upon the basic functions of a warship. The exhibits gave an insight into the complex technologies which contribute to making the ship into a cohesive, self-contained, fighting unit. Equipment being displayed depicted the four essential facets of a warship, viz. To float, To move, To seek and To destroy.
The last day of Techfest 2004 coincided with the Republic Day. To celebrate this momentous occasion, the Aakaash Ganga team of the Indian Air Force performed a breath-taking feat of Para Jumping in the gymkhana grounds of IIT Bombay. The gymkhana grounds were full with students, faculty and campusites alike who came to witness this colourful spectacle of tri-colour parachutes.
Mr. Ferenc Cako of Cako Studios Hungary, SICAF fame, performed for the first time in India at Techfest on the 24th of January. Out of this art genre, the artist has developed a sand painting type performance. This performance concerns figurative drawing/painting with sand to the sound of music, projected on a film screen.
It is one of its kinds in the world, a special performance that Ferenc Cako performs at great social events, festival opening ceremonies, world fairs, theatres and opera performances. Performing for the first time in this country, this very unique and novel show was held in the Open Air Theatre (OAT) of IIT Bombay in front of a capacity crowd of 5000.
The other attractions at Technoholix included the Sci-Tech quiz hosted by renowned quiz master Barry O'Brien, the Formula 3 car on display from the stables of Tata Racing team, Colosseum - the gaming arcade and Dirt Track Racing competition.
All in all, an experience that left one and all wanting for more!