Highlights-Techfest

TECHFEST 2013, IIT Bombay

Techfest is the Annual Science and Technological Festival of IIT Bombay. Being the Asia’s largest Science and Technological Festival and patronised by UNESCO, Techfest is proud to bring to you its sixteenth edition from 3rd  to 5th  January 2013. Techfest 2012 saw a footfall of more than 92,000 students with over 25,000 students from India and abroad participating in various events. From challenging Competitions to Lectures by noted luminaries, from incredible workshops to fun-filled O-zone, Techfest 2013 will have everything to conquer one’s imagination. With more than 150 events spread over the 3 days and total prize money of over 17 lakhs, Techfest has always offered the best to all its participants as well as the visitors.

Techfest 2013 began with a series of campaigns focused at promotion of futuristic and eco-friendly technologies or technical innovations aimed at eradicating problems faced by the common man, these initiatives to address social and environmental causes have set Techfest apart from any other college festival and added a whole new dimension to this organisation working on a non-profit basis.

This year, we have not just restricted  our campaign to college students but it’s a very diversified approach to include in large number of schools in Mumbai, Pune , Nasik and nearby colleges. The general theme which Techfest wants to portray is not just restricted to college crowd but definitely the school students and hence, this step was taken.

GIVE A COIN-Promoting Financial Child Adoption

Techfest in association with Pratham Council for Vulnerable Children, (PCVC) a pilot program of Pratham introduces the Give-A-Coin initiative to promote Financial Child Adoption. Spreading its wings over 11 cities, and promulgating the humble idea of Financial Child Adoption across students of top 40 colleges of India, an appeal will be made to the masses to drop in a coin. It’s NOT a fundraiser and we believe that by giving a coin, college students would get aware about the cause and may be willing to take it up in the near future. The campaign has received the best possible start where Hon’ble Mr.NitinGadkari, BhartiyaJanata party (BJP) National President commenced the campaign by giving a coin .Total money collected through the campaign is INR 1,00,000     [nggallery id=46]

Techfest Green Campus Challenge

Techfest Green Campus Challenge is a first of its kind initiative in India by Techfest 2013, IIT Bombay  towards green technology and cleaner India. With a total prize money worth 2.5 lakhs, the challenge involves the Green Clubs of all colleges to be a part of this event and perform tasks to win the event. Over 750 colleges have registered for the challenge. The challenge involves 99 tasks in all of various difficulty levels that have been divided into 11 genres which include:  Energy, Climate and Air, Sustainability, Social Outreach, Bio-diversity and Land –management, Green, Food, Waste, Social Media, Water, Design and Creatives. Around 50 colleges all over India completed over 85 tasks including Cycle Rallys in their respective cities

Techfest International MUN

TIMUN in collaboration with UN Information Centre for India and Bhutan presents to you, for the first time, Techfest is organizing Techfest International MUN with an aim to provide cultural and technical exchange between different countries of the world. Model United Nations (also Model UN or MUN) is actually an academic simulation of the United Nations that aims to educate participants about current events, topics in international relations, diplomacy and the United Nations agenda. Participation from 10 countries has been assured till now. There will be 6 committees for MUN and the event would be conducted on all the 3 days of the festival.The 6 committees are:

Commission on Science and Technology for development, Disarmament and International Security Committee, Legal, Security Council, Economic and Financial Committee.

IDEATE

With 5 genres of Ideate this year, Techfest aims to broadly cover all the predominant problems of our society.  With a prize money of INR 4 Lakhs, the competition aims to improve the current problems prevailing in the society

  • Inspire India- – Inspire India invites ideas for changes which can have a strong and lasting impact on the society to tackle the problems head on, pertaining to the society in general.
  • Earth- Implementing green technology in day today activities is one the ways to save our Earth. The competition aims to question today’s youth : The bottom of the oil barrel is now visible, are you the answer ‘Earth’ is looking for?
  • Ummeed, for a better tomorrow-The desire for quality upbringing for all children is noble and surely one shared by all. Ummeed, for a better tomorrow invites ideas for the upliftment of children
  • Utkarsh- India is primarily an agriculture-based country with nearly one-fifth of total GDP of the country being contributed by this sector. There is a need of implementable and economic ideas to uplift one of the most integral part of India- the Rural India
  • Vidyarth- The Indian education system has always been criticized for promoting rote learners and blind curriculum abiders rather than independent and creative thinkers. The competition focusses on revolutionizing the system with extremely potential ideas.

Lecture Series

Some of the eminent personalities in the Lecture series this year are:

  • AmartyaSen(Nobel prize, Economic Sciences, 1998)
    • Helped to create the United Nations Human Development Index.
    • In 2012, he became the first non-American recipient of the National HumanitiesMedal
    • Will be delivering the prestigious G. L. Mehta Memorial lecture hosted by the Board of Directors at IIT Bombay
  • Rakesh Sharma( First Indian Astronaut)
    • Conferred with the Ashok Chakra and Hero of the Soviet Union awards
    • Spent almost 8 days in space and did life sciences and materials processing experiments, including silicium fusing tests
    • He will enlighten us on ”Should India Invest In A Manned Space Programme?”
  • Montek Singh Ahluwalia( Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission)
    • First Director of the independent Evaluation Office at the International Monetary Fund
    • Member of the influential Washington-based financial advisory body, the Group ofThirty
    • Awarded Padma Vibhushan, India’s second highest civilian award
  • Jocelyn Goldfein( Director of Engineering, Facebook)
    • Holds a bachelors degree in Computer Science from Stanford University
    • Responsible for key Facebook product features like news feed, search, and photos.
  • Ei-ichiNegishi( Nobel Prize, Chemistry, 2010)
    •  Currently working as a Professor at Purdue University, he will enlighten us on the “Magical Power of d-block Transition Metals- Past, Present and Future”
  • Michael Tiemann- Vice President, Redhat Inc.
  • StephenCook (Turing Award,1982):
  • Regarded asoneof the forefathersofcomputationalcomplexity

theory and received the Turing Awardforhiscontributions tothesame.

  • Formulated themostfamousproblemincomputerscience,the P vs

             NP Problem

  • Currently aUniversityProfessorattheUniversityofToronto,

Departmentof ComputerScienceand Departmentof Mathematics he

willenlighten uson ”Ultimate limitsof Computing”.

  • AmitabhaGhosh(Chairman,ScienceOperations,Curiosity):
  • OnlyAsian ontheCuriosityMarsmission,heconductedchemicalanalysis of

rocks andsoilonthelandingsite

  • Atpresent,heisamemberoftheMarsOdysseyMissionandtheMars

Exploration RoverMission.

  • Thisplanetarygeologisthaswonseveralaccolades,whichincludetheNASA

Mars Pathfinder AchievementAward in 1997 and the NASA Mars

Exploration RoverAchievementAwardin2004.

  • Hewillspeak ontheexistence andsustainabilityoflife onMars

Tech-a-Tete:

An event where some of the top technological innovators and researchers of the world come together and present their revolutionary game-changing ideas. A one of its kind conference for the first time in India being hosted by a college festival on its own. The speakers include:

  • Drew Berry,Emmy and BAFTA award winner, Biological Animator
  • Erez Lieberman, Fellow at the Harvard Society of Fellows and Visiting Faculty at Google
  • Ranveer Chandra, Senior Researcher in the Mobile Computing Research Center, Microsoft
  • Andrea Armani, a senior IEEE member working on producing optical devices with previously unachievable behavior and a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists winner

The other lecturers are:

Eric Giler (Founder and CEO of WiTricity, a Wireless electricity company)

Shahn Majid(Director of Mathematics at Queens Mary Univeristy)

Archana Sharma (Senior Physicist and Only Permanent Indian at CERN’s LHC)

Charles H. Lineweaver (Astronomer and Senior Fellow at Planetary Science Institute, Australia)

Osamu Hasegawa (Man behind the Robot HIRO which Learns, Adapts To New Situations

Autonomously)

EXHIBITIONS

Lined up this year are around 50 exhibits from over 20 countries from the famed HIRO robot, Xachikoma from France, MIT Media lab, AirBurr from Switzerland and many more which will bring to life the essence of robotics and the basic sciences.

  • SOINN based HIRO robot- From Hasegawa lab(Tokyo), this robot can think, learn and act by itself using artificial intelligence. This robot remembers basic knowledge and it can apply that knowledge to its immediate situation. The SOINN technology also allows the robot to connect to the internet and other robots for information.
  • XACHIKOMA- It is a cute SUV-sized mobile robot from France. Their design is largely inspired by jumping spiders and they’re very quick on roads as well as uneven terrains. The robot can dance or even write when it has its pen, as it will demonstrate during the exhibitionat Techfest 2013.
  • AIRBURR- From France, the design of AirBurr takes inspiration from insects which regularly collide with obstacles and manage to recover. The robot can control its own speed like an insect and can understand the layout of the location by colliding with other objects.
  • One Man One Tree- This art installation from Electronic Shadows, Paris is constructed from 15 kilometers of taut elastic wire meant to emulate a 3-D forest of light.
  • NAO Robot- Aldebaran Robotics, France,  the world leader in humanoid roboticsare going to exhibit their robots for the first time in India @ Techfest .It is capable of expressing anger, fear, sadness, happiness, excitement and pride. The Nao was used in RoboCup 2008 and 2009, and the NaoV3R was chosen as the platform for the SPL at RoboCup 2010.
  • Quadrotor UAV- Militaries around the world use Unmanned Aerial Vehicles or UAVs for routine surveillance and to carry out basic attack strategies. One such prototype was seen in the famous movie “3 Idiots”.
  • MIT Media Lab- By Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA, NETRA is a project of Camera Culture MIT Media Lab. The system is capable of computing the refractive error for myopia, hypermetropia and astigmatism. Till date, NETRA has received many awards like Vodafone America’s Foundation Wireless Innovation Project Winner, MIT Global Challenge Award, LAUNCH Health Innovation Award.

TECHNOHOLIX

Over the years, the stage has played host to the parkour team from the sets of Casino Royale. Tony Chapek, an interactive illusionist from the States; Mark Nizer, arguably the best juggler on Earth; Pep Bou, a world-renowned theatrical bubble artist,thePa-li-Tchi fire dancers and Pyrotechnicians. It offers entertainment, but with a flicker of tech. Here are some of them:

  • BLACKLUX- A fusion of hip-hop and wireless light technology, the act will be an LED glow dance from LuxyBoyz. This group from Taiwan has featured across the world’s most watched TV shows and glared across the most happening festivals.
  • PYROTERRA-This is a Czech art group dealing with juggling, fire and light show, acrobatics. Their art has burnt its way through Czech Got Talent besides shows for NASA, BMW, TOYOTA, Schwarzkopf and a host of other top-brass clients.
  • FREESYLE AIR- Being a group of 4 stunt cyclers right from the streets of France,they are regarded as one of Europe’s finest and most extreme entertainers. They competed and excelled at France Got Talent, receiving worldwide acclaim.Being telecasted on the Discovery Channel’s World Riderz, they have already had their fair share of exposure revving up all this time before unleashing themselves on India.
  • LORDS OF GRAVITY- Lords of Gravity performs an extremely spectacular and innovative basketball slam dunk show,  demonstrating high-flying acrobatic moves while precisely passing the ball to each other at the most unexpected times. They’ve demonstrated a successful attempt to set a new world record for the “Farthest Basketball Slam Dunk”, at the NBA Europe Live Tour, in Berlin, 2012.
  • D-VA- The performance will feature popular trend of dance performances and an innovative combination of avant-garde technology, such as cold pyrotechnics, LED lights, lasers and projection. The act is being performed for the first time in India.

 

COMPETITIONS

One of the biggest departments of the fest, Competitions  showcases some thrilling and never seen before battles. From robotics to coding, we have competitions mentioned below which will serve a variety of tech hobbyists coming to Techfest 2013. With a prize money of 25 Lakhs, Over 25,000 participants have already registered for the competitions and the number is still increasing

International Robotics Challenge- We bring forth the International Robotics Challenge, a universal and common platform for all the Indians as well as International participants to compete and excel. The qualifying rounds for IRC will be held in all participating countries – Bangladesh, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Thailand, UAE. Winners of each of these country legs will get direct entry into: International Robotics Challenge Grand Finale to be held at Techfest 2013, India. Total prizes worth INR 4,50,000 to be won

 

TechOlympics- Teams would first compete in the TechOlympics: Qualifiers at their respective zone viz. Bhubaneswar, Coimbatore, Indore, Jaipur, Visakhapatnam, Mumbaiat the 4 technology skill sets we are testing. The genres are:

  • Line following
  • Aqua Robotics
  • Aeromodelling
  • Coding

Cash prizes worth INR 4,00,000 to be won.

  • Robotron- This segment has six sub-categories:
    • IRC India
    • Grid Master
    • Hover-On
    • Interceptor- Fog of war
    • Magneto- Real steel
    • Solar Express

Total Cash prizes worth INR 96,000 to be won

  • Dimensions- We all remember the entrance of Aamir Khan (Rancho) in the famous movie 3 Idiots, and the comment that follows from R. Madhavan (Farhan) is: “8th Standard Physics. Humnepadhatha, saale ne apply kiya. With relevant competitions, this segment has cash prizes worth INR 85,000
  • Xtreme Machines-  Through this segment, we invite you to witness technologies ahead of their time and robots which are terminators in their own right. Following are some competitions with ferocious robots:
    • Blitzkrieg- Cash prizes worth INR 40,000 to be won.
    • Full Throttle-Unleashed- Cash prizes worth INR 55,000.
    • Robowars-Fatal Combat- One of the most famous and talked about event of any technical festival, Robowars will be giving away cash prizes worth INR 80,000 to the winner
  • Code Czar- The competitions dealing with coding and hacking are:
    • Program’m-able
    • Browser-X- Cash prizes worth INR 18,000 to be won
    • Hack-Tricks- Techfest 2013 presents “Hack-Tricks”, an International hunt for extraordinarily skilled & knowledgeable white hat hacker. Laptop worth over INR 1 Lakh to be won.
    • ZERO<1>- Cash prizes worth INR 15,000

OZONE(The fun side of Techfest)

  • International Artists- Techfest brings you the opportunity to witness renowned artists from around the world perform on the streets of Techfest. Here are the some major artists who will be performing at Techfest 2013:
    • Zlwin Magic(Mentalist from Malaysia)
    • FabrizioRoselli( Juggler, Actor and clown from Italy)
    • JohnMan(living statue performer from Berlin, . Johnman won the World Cup in Holland in 2010(World Statues Festival))
    • Edison Lim(Malaysia’s Youngest Professional Illusionist)
  • SILENT DISCO- Being introduced for the very first time in any college festival in India, Techfest, IIT Bombay launches the ‘Silent Disco’ to rock the party. The Silent Disco will be open for all and for no cost. The disco with an aim to solve the Noise pollution problem and an alternative to the Mumbai Sound Rules which resist the youth to have fun, play loud music after 10 is no more an issue.
  • Bungee Jumping –We at Techfest like to get people moving and jumping. Introducing to you the very first time in any college festival in India.Bungee Jumping!!! Its to Feel the thrill not just from the free falling but also from the rebound.
  • F1 and XD Simulator are going to be a part of Techfest this year which will be launched on such a wide scale for the first time .This is to give you an exact feel of Driving F1 cars in true style, just at IIT Bombay Techfest.
  • Light Painting World Alliance- The Light Painting World Alliance (LPWA) is an international self-juried guild of established and emerging professional light painting photographers
  • On the Spot Competitions:
  • Junkyard Wars:
  • The IIT BOMBAY proudly brings forth the power packed “JUNKYARD WARS” 2013. Come to showcase your talent and creativity and mould the backyard junk of our own IIT Bombay into something to be envied by.
  • ThinkQuest:
  • It includes variety of events for all the kind of people like quizzing, rebuses, dumb charades and analytical events like logic, crypto, math, geometry etc. This is a place to see, think, learn and enjoy.
  • Indian Sudoku Championship:
  • It’s a mania to be the quickest and the sharpest .The clash of the brightest, sharpest and fastest minds of India through the game of Sudoku.
  • Cube Mania:
  • Techfest is hosting 11 exciting variations on this classical brain-teaser – starting with the 2x2x2, and moving all the way upto challenging variations that will surely keep even the cube’s most hardened champs guessing!
  • Board Games Camp:
  • Board Games Camp is about playing strategy games, not just talking about them. We’ll have a host of board games for you to explore and play with, from well-worn table fillers to little-seen exotics, some being introduced for the first time in India.

Ozone Workshops:

  • Techfest presents a plethora of fun workshops for anyone to just jump into and enjoy a cool yet technical extravaganza.
  • Judo Workshop:
  • Techfest we give you an opportunity to lay hands on the basics of Judo which will be conducted by the skilled masters.
  • Mentalism Workshop:
  • Techfest brings you an opportunity to interact with one the world’s most famous mentalists Zlwin Chew and learn some beautiful mentalism and magic tricks to flaunt around.
  • Character Animation:
  • This workshop is intended to clarify why contemporary character animation is situated at the confluence between traditional and digital media, and also describing the process of character design and animation development for 3D.
  • Rubik’s cube workshop:
  • Rubik’s cube is one of the challenging puzzles to learn and master. Come to Techfest IIT Bombay and learn the art from the masters themselves to solve the Rubik’s Cube.

 KARAOKE NIGHT:

  • Just to extend the horizons of Techfest  fun segment to newer levels, Karaoke Night will be there at Techfest after the Technoholix Shows.The night will  have big LCD screens with lyrics going on them and the crowd can have fun, singing dancing. Not just these, there would be desi food stalls at these places along with Bonfire to enthral the crowd present.
  • Techfest National Open Quiz 2.0(TNOQ)- TNOQ is also the biggest student-organised quiz both in terms of moolah offered as reward and in terms of student participations. Qualifiers were held in Delhi, Bangalore, Chandigarh, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bhubaneswar, Kolkata, Jaipur, Pune, Ahmedabad and Mumbai. Grand Finale prizes worth INR 1,00,000 and overall prizes worth INR 2,00,000

This is an overview of the various events that are going to be held during the festival.

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