Insight | Feb 2003 | Vol 5 | Issue 5

Techfest 2003 - A report on Techfest 2003, the annual technology extravaganza of IITB, by Zishaan M Hayath, Suraj Ravindran and Vikram Chopra

Techfest 2003, the sixth embodiment of our very own technological extravaganza concluded on the 2nd of February after a three day razzledazzle of spectacular events. And to add the icing to the cake was IIT Bombay's claim on the inaugural Techfest Trophy under the able leadership of CL Ravi Jain. So much for performance! Right from day one, this year's Techfest had a different feel to it. It was the magnitude of the fest. TF 2k3 witnessed the biggest ever turnout of competitors and spectators, surpassing all the previous records since its inception in 1998. About 1900 out station participants were provided accommodation. A total of 280 contingents from over 200 colleges participated in the fest. The site witnessed about 46,000 hits during the last week before the fest. The fest was covered by National Geographic Channel, The Week, Digit and it was also webcasted live on the internet!

What puts this Techfest apart from its previous counterparts was the strong and interesting line-up of Competitions. Six new competitions: SimCity, Water Rockets, Chem e Car, Trebuchet, Krazie Idea and Exhibix were introduced. Though the aforementioned events were all well received by the participants and spectators alike, Exhibix (design a trade show exhibition) was a new competition that did get not an enthusiastic response, plausibly because of the complicated task of the problem statement. Apart from this, the regular competitions like Open Hardware, Open Software, Contraption, Yantriki, LaSTraw, etc saw very worthwhile entries which were appreciated by the judges, faculty and audience alike. The pick of the lot was Yantriki, the most celebrated "robo-sports" competition in India. The student community was provided a chance to try its hands on practical problems posed by the industry as Techfest 2003 featured Industry Defined Problems (IDP) where companies like Mastek and Tata offered mentorship to the winners. A whopping 5 lakh of moolah was given away as cash prizes to the winners. No wonder, such participation and prizes make Techfest the biggest fest of its kind in Asia.

Tech-e-Tete, the Lecture Series was very well attended. The speakers included Prof. M G K Menon, Chairman, Board of Governors, IIT Bombay, Dr. R. Chidambaram, Principal Scientific Adviser to Govt. of India, Dr. Bernhard Schoelkopf, Director, Max Planck Institute of Biological Cybernetics, Germany and Mr. Ajit Balakrishnan, CEO, Rediff. There was also a lecture by Prof. Manindra Agarwal, IIT Kanpur on Prime Numbers. And one person who certainly had the audiences' attention was Ankit Fadia, 17 yr old hacking whiz with lecture(s) on "Computer Networking and Security". The popularity of the event could be gauged from the fact that a repeat lecture of Ankit Fadia had to be organised to oblige eager fans standing in long queues. Dr. Richard M. Stallman, President Free Software Foundation and founder of GNU project spoke through a Video Conference from Boston, USA. However, the discussion by Mr. Sandipan Deb, Managing Director, Outlook, was a let down. Also, most of the panel discussions ended up being individual speeches by respective speakers.

Workshops at Techfest 2003 covered a wide range of subjects, from the most contemporary ones, to those which each one of us always wished to learn, but never got the opportunity. The current interests like Wireless Networking, Robotics, MEMS, GPS/GIS and Computer Aided Process Engineering were well received. The response for the "not so common" subjects among students, namely Astronomy, Cryptography and Archaeology was heartening. The highlight of the workshops undoubtedly was the Live Telecast from Mount Wilson Telescope stationed at California. The whole Astronomy workshop amazed each and every participant. And if anyone thought that the students were there only to listen, take a note of a couple of IIT Bombay students who delivered arguably the most appreciated parts in the respective workshops.

Hub had the audience struggling over their grey matter with on-thespot contests and documentaries, courtesy National Geographic Channel. Hub also featured the R&D Exhibition which could boast of long queues of eager enthusiasts. The participating institutions included ISRO, BARC, TIFR, JFWTC, PHILIPS, ADA, NCL, DRDL and IITB among others. Nataraj, "the 6 foot tall, 6 legged robot", indigenously developed by IITB, walked the corridors of the Mechanical Engineering Department, much to the delight of the tech connoisseur.

'Techfest at Dark' took over from Technoholix of the yesteryears and enthralled the capacity gatherings in the SAC lawns and OAT, providing the right mix of entertainment and competitions. True to its shibboleth, there indeed was 'Something for everyone!' However, what would leave a lasting impression on the minds of the visitors in Techfest 2003 were the 3D Laser show, 'Aibo' Robo Cup show and the Air show. The laser show had the crowd gushing in awe. Then there was the Aibo League Robo Cup where robots played "a game of soccer and performed to the same mettle that the humans do (well almost!)". Aibo means "companion" in Japanese. It is also an acronym for Artificial Intelligence robot; and yeah, the Sony-powered dogs even danced to the beat of popular tunes! The surprise package was Air Borne, the air plane flying session on the Gymkhana grounds on the last day of the fest. The scaled down models of World War II air planes caught everyone's fancy with their high-flying acrobatics. However, poor choice of the movie in the OAT on the last day left people with a disappointing ending. Also, the Pyro show in an academic campus was not very well received by the faculty.

On the flip side, Techfest 2003, with all its grandeur, was not without a few failings, particularly when it came to providing accommodation for the participants. Almost all the people asked for feedback complained of the lack of proper accommodation. Vaneet Seth, CL of VIT, Pune who walked away with the Techfest Runners-Up Trophy said, "We've been regulars at Techfest for the last three years. Though accommodation was not splendid last year or before, this year was an awful experience. We were accommodated in the Type-1 quarters (behind H-4) where the rooms were filled with water, had electrical faults and pigeons to sleep with!" Crammed rooms are understandable, as the fest happens when the semester is still on, but serious lapses as these, do dampen the enthusiasm. The organisers say that confirmations for accommodation was sent to 1500 participants. However, about 400 extra visitors turned up without confirmations and they had a tough job managing the crowd. Participants from KK Wagh College, Nasik, winners of Contraption, mentioned registration problems in the Workshops. The "Jaws" team, that won Yantriki Level-I opined that the organisation of the event, though not inefficient, could certainly be more enjoyable if the events could be started according to the schedule.

Another issue was the non-availability of venues like Convo, MB and IC class rooms due to the scheduling of CEED exam and other conferences on the same date. This was in spite of the PR Office being informed about the dates of the fest much in advance. Even in case of the guests, participation from about 25 R&D scientists and another 20 speakers for the Workshops and Lecture Series had the organising team hunting for Hotels and other guest houses as the institute guest houses were on their full capacity owing to the exam and conference. All in all, except for a few glitches, the ambience and spirit of Techfest 2003 could be summed up, in the words of a participant, as "... the most fantastic Techfest ever... it was a mind blowing experience - the lights, the sounds, the competitions, the crowd! Hope we'll be treated to the same spectacle next year".

Zishaan M Hayath is a third year Civil Engg DD student. Suraj Ravindran is a second year Civil Engg. B.Tech student. Vikram Chopra is a second year Meta. Engg. B.Tech student. They can be contacted at: d0zmh[at]civil.iitb.ac.in, b1suraj[at]civil.iitb.ac.in, vikramc[at]met.iitb.ac.in